Temperance is Golden
by AmberKendsLacy
Summary: Lydia Gold's life in Storybrooke has always felt empty, as if something was missing inside her that she just couldn't see. As strange events begin taking place in the little town, the teenager begins to wonder if true fulfillment can be found in the life she forgot, and the man she hates the most.
1. Chapter 1

**A/N: Quick disclaimer, I don't own Once Upon a Time, just my character.**

**Well I should say my adaptation of this character, since knowing this show it's most likely that she'll be included in the next episode and whatnot. And even if they do that, I'm just going to continue writing my adaptation because this is something I truly enjoyed writing and want to continue on with it.**

**So to conclude, I own nothing but my adaptation of this character, on to the story.**

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><p><em>The Dark Palace was never truly a place of unending noise or the overwhelming clatter of living occupants, in fact it was mostly a place of silence, but it was anything but serene. Tension was always in the air, tasted on the tongue by nearly every guard and servant that had ever been under the orders of the castle's ruler. No one dared to make a noise against the silence when it fell at midnight, whether it is a sub conscious fear of nature for angering the alpha, or natural instinct of not wanting their heads removed instantly and mercilessly from their shoulders. <em>

_Whichever reason it might be, the Dark Palace was normally always silent as the grave during the midnight. So it must have been somewhat of a surprise that almost completely on time, midnight promptly and not one second off, that there was suddenly commotion that seemed to echo through every corridor and room of the palace. Some servants unintentionally jumped in reaction to the noise during their usual duties, but then would quickly return to concentrating on their work, not wanting to think much less see what was going on to cause such a ruckus so late at night. Others would give a pointed look to one another, but didn't speak a word. The facial expressions would say most than what they would ever dare to say._

_That being, someone had dared to go against their Queen, and whoever that was, had not only their respect but also their sympathy. _

_During these silent reactions, the noise never ceased. The loudest was sounds of the soon to be punished, now prisoner yelling and fighting the guards that must have caught them in whatever crime that they may or may not have been committing. The other sound, one most servants of the castle was aware of and had always dreaded since the very first day they had arrived here, especially when it was coming towards them, was the rhythm of the guards boots, marching past and dragging the struggling, yelling prisoner soon to be punished person with them by their under arms. It didn't take long to drag this person to their punishment, some servants being as good as the others and not looking, but those that did, were a little surprised in what they saw. _

"_Your Majesty, we found this sneaking through the kitchens, sampling the best of the cook's porridge," One of the guards, who hadn't been restraining the apparent thief at the time, said coolly as their Queen turned from her mirror, and looked instead to the criminal they had caught. An eyebrow was raised at the appearance of the thief that had been caught, and the guards took that as a cue to throw the thief to the ground. A cry of pain left the thief as they landed on their arm, but otherwise their yelling and cursing had ceased after being dragged into the Queen's presence, suddenly the prisoner was silent. _

_A look was given by the Queen to the three guards, enough to tell them that they would no longer be necessary. They left as ordered, but not without roughly pulling the prisoner back to their feet by the shackles that had been placed over their wrists, which didn't happen without difficulty. The prisoner remained silent after the guards had left, rubbing their wrists as the shackles were a little too tight for their liking, and certainly landing on their wrists didn't help. The Queen however, wasn't much in the silent mood as this captured thief, especially since the usual midnight silence of the Dark Palace was beyond saving by this point. _

"_Well, you certainly don't have the appearance of a thief," That was true, and was mostly the reason that any of the servants that had dared to look upon the captured prisoner were a little surprised. See the thief was a rather gangly teenage girl, her face mostly hidden by the large curly yet frizzed blonde mess that one could describe as hair on a good day. Her clothes weren't all that terrible as a usually desperate thief's would be (since a thief would only ever be very desperate to even attempt steal from this Queen in any way), but weren't that extravagant either, then again the clothes were probably stolen before this point, so there was no point in judging this young thief in her clothing. _

_After a few seconds of silence in which it was apparent that the frizz haired girl was going to need more prompting to answer back, the Queen continued on, walking slowly back to her mirror as she spoke, the reflection turning once again back to the man that had made such a terrible mistake as to be stuck with her forever as her servant, though whether he was actually acknowledging that yet was still up for debate. The captured thief watched her new warden quietly still, surprisingly not all that shocked at the sudden appearance of a man's face in this mirror on the other side of the room instead of the Queen's reflection, though that could just be the girl hiding her shock very well. _

"_Tell me, there must have been more in your sights than just my morning breakfast, what was it you were after?" _

_The girl's silence was finally broken, and spoke up. Her tone was a little lighter than it should have been in her circumstances. _

"_I was going for something rather rare and expensive, and I think I would have managed it if I wasn't so hungry," _

_She was very open in her motivations at least more than any other thief that had been caught red handed in this castle, she even managed to look a little sheepish as the end of her statement, looking down to glare at the stomach that she must have felt betrayed her to her captors. The Queen seemed somewhat pleased by this thief's honesty, since it would be more time wasting and rather inefficient to torture the truth out of this person as to why they were here. At least, that was what the girl thought what with what the Queen replied with._

"_You are being very truthful for a red handed thief," _

_The shackles were starting to sting from the tightness of how they had been applied, and despite the slight wincing of pain from that, the thief tried to keep her expression relaxed as she replied once again, her hand sub consciously rubbing at the agitated skin. The Queen meanwhile, had taken to drinking some wine or having a whole different conversation with the man in the mirror that the thief didn't bother to listen to since she figured it rather unimportant, since it didn't involve her all that much. Basically the thief was being considered a minor interest for that time, not that she minded of course since if she was the Queen, she would ignore her to. _

"_Being condemned to death makes an honest speaker of anyone," _

_There was a moment of silence after she had spoken, and the thief was left to wonder if she had actually managed to offend the Queen accidentally, or if the option of executing her was now on the table since she had mentioned it. The thief hoped that wasn't the case since it was worse enough being caught, but dying mainly because she had actually been the one to accidentally mention it would only make it more embarrassing. The pause passed as it always does before the Queen finally turned back to the Thief, taking her seriously as a major conversation for the first time since she had entered the room via escort by the guards. _

"_What is your name?"_

_Another pause came and went._

"_Goldilocks," _

_The thief was thankful for the frizzy hair, so the Queen couldn't see how much she was actually uncomfortably embarrassed by her name, looking down at her scuffed shoes instead of at the Queen's reaction. The blonde was a little surprised then, when the woman walked to a rather comfortable looking chair, and invited the girl to sit next to her, and of course the shackled one knew better than to go against any invitation the Queen gave her, and so sat next to her as gestured. And yet despite any comfort that the chair might have given the thief in any other situation, it did nothing for her. In fact, she felt more like a fly that had gotten free from one trap, and flown straight into a spider's web. _

"_Well Goldilocks, I believe an agreement can be made here instead of your death," _

"_Are you going to let me go?"_

"_Perhaps…"_

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><p>"Absolutely not,"<p>

A groan of irritation came from the recipient of this answer, her hands slamming against the prison bars that were in between them in agitated annoyance before walking back to the small bed that was bolted to the wall, glaring back to the other of the conversation, and continued to try and plead their case to be freed from the temporary holding cell that they had been placed into for some time by this point, attempting to hold back in the annoyance that they were feeling, thought of course that was betrayed by the rhythmic tapping of her foot on the concrete ground.

"Oh come on Sheriff, just let me out before my father gets here at least. It'll be our little secret, I'll even be a responsible law abiding citizen from now on," The Sheriff gave the teenager on the other side of bars a look, and she followed up with a lame-

"Well, a few days at least and I think that's all I can promise."

The Sheriff shook his head, trying not to look as amused as he felt.

"You know the rules kid. You're a minor so you have to wait here for your parent to pick you up, promises regardless."

The teenager slouched back against the brick wall of the cell, feeling the uneven rocks and cement that created the wall digging slightly into her back. Her feet had stopped tapping, and instead she took to twirling one blonde curled hair through her fingers for a time, spending her attention to glaring her anger out at the ceiling above her head. After some time of the silent glaring and ignoring any more attempts that the Sherriff gave to motivate her to make better choices, or at least that was what he was saying, she wasn't really listening; the silent waiting was broken by the sound of someone entering the police headquarters.

Quickly sitting up, the teenager thinking that it was her parent coming to pick her up and no doubt be annoyed in the fact that she had to be broken out again. But instead was greeted by the sight of the only other frequent visitor of the holding cells, so much so that they had their own preferred cell, which was actually as far away as possible from her own, Leroy. He looked a little drunk and wobbling on his feet, but then again the teenager wasn't about to judge on appearances when she was in jail as well, so she tried a friendlier approach than the usual.

"Oh good morning dear Leroy, have a nice night?"

Okay, she might have said it in more of an old English accent than she was suppose to, but then again she found it hilarious so, nothing wrong there in her opinion. Leroy didn't seem to agree, and instead retaliated to her comment with his usual grumpy retorts half mumbled through an obviously hang over induced haze. This of course, only made the teenager smile that much wider, since it meant she was bothering him, and she had been looking for entertainment since her offer was shot down by the Sheriff for an early release.

"Waiting for daddy to bail you out again little brat? Or are you actually going to jail this time?"

She only grinned.

"Don't try and make me feel bad about my actions and reputation Leroy, it'd be a bit hypocritical don't ya think?"

But he didn't rise to the bait like other times, and instead allowed himself to be lead to a jail cell on the other side of the room, and the teenager was left back to her boredom once again. At least for a small while as she sat up a little and looked to see if the Sheriff was still there. Relieved to see that he had gone in the back rooms for a little while instead of watching her like a hawk, the teen's hand slyly moved to her coat pocket and pulled out the cell phone that was meant to be confiscated until her parent came to pick her up, flicking through some texts that she had sent to the few friends she had, letting the world of technology take her in as she waited.

"Isn't that against the rules dearie?"

Of course, he always happened whenever she wasn't expecting him to turn up. The teenager looked up for the first time in a while from the glowing screen of her phone back to what could be considered a legal guardian, mostly to just make sure he was actually standing there. And she wasn't disappointed, as there was Mr. Gold in his entire suit wearing splendor, as if he needed it every day to remind the people of Storybrooke that he owned them both financially and almost emotionally. It might have been that sort of cold air that he gave off, as if barely anything could truly affect that nearly every adult in this town barely thought him human. She wasn't bothered by that though, since she sort of had that same opinion of him, since he was a rather ruthless businessman. Still, he was better than having nothing at all and she wasn't too much of a self indulged teenager of her age to not to see that at least.

She still didn't call Mr. Gold father though, not to his face anyway.

"Rules are for people outside of jail cells Sir,"

She always dragged out the sir, always because it made her smile, and she knew somewhere where he wasn't able to show it, it bothered him. And that was worth nearly every blank expression and slight smirk that she had ever received from him. The teenager sat up from her bunk, and eventually got to her feet, thankful in a way that she wasn't going to admit that this boredom parade was finally going to end. Not a moment later the Sheriff reentered the room, and the teenager quickly shoved the phone back into her jacket pocket, her hand brushing back down to the baggy jeans that she loved wearing since they hid the fact that she was very skinny, in fact frighteningly so.

"Lydia Gold,"

The now named teenager saluted from the other side of the bars, satirically standing to attention as the Sheriff unlocked the cell and let her out. As she spent a moment to stretch her legs, Lydia sent a quick smirk back to Leroy, who was still stuck behind bars, who reacted with a glare and not exactly polite hand gesture. After a moment of stretching and collecting a few objects of her's (the Sheriff not as surprised as he use to be that she had managed to hold onto her phone while in the cell for the night), both she and her parent were lead into the Sheriff's office, where Lydia was expecting the usual talk of how she should be better behaved and follow the rules or else she was going to go down a bad road and so on and so forth.

"If this behavior continues, and by that I mean one more offence, and it won't be a day in a holding cell anymore Lydia,"

That didn't sound good; in fact that was the exact opposite of anything good whatsoever. The curly blonde's eyes widened a little bit, the usual frosty but often calmed navy blue lightening a little to a frightened cerulean blue. And of all the worry she was starting to get in the pit of her stomach, she got the feeling that if she had turned to the side, she would see no reaction from the person she was supposed to be calling a legal guardian. She knew he didn't really care, but it would be nice if he showed a little reaction. The Sheriff continued on through the moment of her being stunned to silence.

"One more incident from your daughter Mr. Gold, and it doesn't even have to be as effective and disruptive as this time, and it will be Juvenile Detention, possibly in another part of the state since we don't exactly have one in Storybrooke or in any other town close to us."

Lydia couldn't help it; she looked quickly to see what his reaction was, whether it was simple curiosity or the want to feel as though it bothered him somehow. What she got was certainly not what her low expectations were waiting for. He looked very annoyed, and not just at her or the Sheriff, jus in general really. Mr. Gold leaned forward in his seat, and the Sheriff was next to notice the sudden attention that he seemed to finally be giving to his daughter's behavioral issues. The meeting seemed to end quickly from the moment that Mr. Gold started talking, and every syllable was exactly what he never sounded like while she was growing up. He sounded almost… caring.

It was weird.

"We won't have to worry about legal jargon and issues like that then, since the behavioral incidents are going to stop, effective today. Isn't that right Lydia?"

The teenager just looked back to him, a little gob smacked since he never spoke up during these meetings. Thinking her silence a good reply, he got to his feet and bid the Sheriff goodbye after promising to pay her bail at a later date, and just like that they were out of the police department and back onto the streets of Storybrooke. Lydia remained silent a little more into their apparent walk home, looking back at her parent with a mix of confusion and a great deal of just shock. After some time in the walk, in which some of the other residents of the town were also surprised to see that the teenager was dead silent, since her release from the holding cells would usually result in her yelling for celebration and the need to do something else that would put her right back there.

"What a nice walk this is, I should stun you into silence more often,"

Finally that seemed to get a reaction out of her as she stopped in mid step, Mr. Gold looking back to her as Lydia seemed to finally find her words again. The first question that came to mind was thankfully the one that was the most logical and needed an answer the most. Lydia didn't mean to sound as confrontational as she was in that moment; nevertheless that was how she came out and that was just how he would have to deal with it and answer it. At least, she was expecting an answer anyway, she never really knew with him.

"Since when do you care in the slightest about my behavioral problems, much less me in general?"

"And how did you get arrested this time?"

Of course, no answers, only rebuttal questions that she was expected to answer to because the world is just unfair. Well, that and the fact that she found it be a really great story that she wanted to tell someone about, and Ruby wasn't there to hear it at the time, it might as well be Mr. Gold, better than nobody at least. And perhaps she sounded a little too enthusiastic about her story or something because she was managing to get a small smirk out of him. There was a pang in her chest as she remembered, because of course she did, she only ever seemed to have her memories now if nothing else, how hard she use to work to have that half smirk.

"Okay, but this was totally not my idea and-"

Several moments and a story later they were at the front door of the Mr. Gold's vintage shop, which was possibly the only reason that she still stuck around Storybrooke instead of going somewhere more interesting, like Disneyland just to start off the list. This shop was almost her hobby in a way, except that she completely adored it to no end. Everything in there seemed like from another world, filled with fantasy and a wonder she use to think would die with her growing up, but it never did. Perhaps it was the fact that he gave her shifts in the shop as a job, since she dropped out of high school not long after she turned fifteen that she bothered to stay living with him.

It wasn't until they reached the door and the end of the rather interesting story of what she called 'car surfing on the main street', that she realized her question never got the answer, and instead he had mislead her to talking about herself, which unfortunately worked more often than her confidence would allow her to admit in any other occasion. So as they walked into the shop, the familiar and lovely smell of the shop calming her from her original anger that she felt a teenager should have. But that still didn't stop her from bringing it up again.

"So, as asked before and unlike last time won't be ignored for another admittedly awesome story, why do you suddenly care whether or not my behavior is far from normal and puts me in a criminal light?"

Mr. Gold moved behind the main desk of the shop, looking back at her with the same blank expression than he seemed to always wear whenever she asked him a serious question. Lydia suppressed the humorous memory of her asking him how human reproduction worked, especially since she already knew that, she just wanted to see what his plain expression would turn into at the mention of it. And he certainly didn't disappoint that day. The teenager shook her curled/frizzed hair a slight bit, pushing back the memories that made her smile as she tried to remember that she was confused and slightly angry at him.

After a few moments of a starting contest in which he wasn't going to open on why that was, whether it be the fact that he was too proud to say it or for whatever reason. That of course, really annoyed the teenager to no end. He was always a stone wall when it came to personal questions, especially whenever she asked about other family or just his past in general. So, deciding that she wanted to get him back, well and the pure coincidence with what she had just remembered, Lydia decided to mention what was possibly the only card she was able to deal in a conversation between the two of them that would make him break the stone wall. Even if it was just to make her stop talking altogether.

"Well, since there isn't much else to talk about, I have been meaning to resume that educational discussion about the female body and how once a-"

The stone wall broke as Mr. Gold looked slightly uncomfortable and held his hands up to sign her to just stop, effective immediately.

"Ah, Thank you but we both know now that that conversation isn't necessary any longer, since you know more about that subject than you probably should at your age,"

Lydia raised an annoyed eyebrow back to her legal guardian.

"I'm seventeen,"

"No you're not,"

Recognizing after he had spoken that he was trying to manipulate the conversation away again from what she wanted to know. Lydia straightened from her comfortable slouched position against the glass case of the desk, and crossed her arms, trying to look as though she was starting to be as serious as she really felt. But then again Lydia wasn't as good at it as he was, as he returned the action, moving back from his comfortable stance a more defensive one as she answered back. Perhaps she was pushing the issue a little too much, but it was too interesting an action he had done for her not to get an explanation out of it.

"Yeah I am, and you're changing the subject, again,"

More silence, but then again periods of quiet like this were not unusual between them as she had grown up. The teenager looked back at what his reaction might be, but as always she was left in mystery since his expression never betrayed him, unlike her of course. Lydia was pretty sure that even at that moment her face was showing nearly every emotion she was feeling at that moment, probably right down to the slight uncomfortable sense that she had at that moment since her shoulders were feeling a little stiff, the holding cell's beds weren't well known for being comfortable.

The silence ended, with quite the unexpected result.

"You're grounded Lydia,"

Well that was one way to break the silence, and left even more quiet behind that statement. The worst part was probably how serious she now knew he was being, since he was calling her by her first name instead of the usual nickname he gave most people. But apart from that, what was more unusual was the fact that this had never happened before this point, which could probably be a good sign into how she had the current history of being a disruptive influence. Mr. Gold, had never cared enough to even punish her most of the time for her actions, this was a genuine and rather surprising first, so it was no wonder that Lydia was a little shocked.

"W-what?"

He continued on, laying down the rules while he still had time to get the words through and for her to accept the situation. The rules were basically not that much of an issue, at least not until the last point that really started to worry her as reality made it clear that this was actually happening. He was actually being somewhat close to a parent, and punishing her for her actions. And if she were going to admit it to herself, because she was never going to say it out loud for the life of her, she found it somewhat a pity that it took until she was seventeen before something finally happened.

"Curfew is eight thirty, and no later than that. You'll still have your shifts in the shop but no leaving for lunch breaks at the diner, and I'll have your phone thanks,"

A hand was expectantly held out for the cell phone to be placed into, the expression on his face still being rather blank, but he was being serious. Lydia agonized for a moment, really not wanting to give the piece of technology to him, especially since there was some text history in there that he probably wasn't going to like, since it wasn't exactly just her girl friends that she texted at times. Eventually though, and also remembering that thankfully there was a password code so there was a chance he wouldn't get into it, the teenager eventually relented and handed the phone over, but didn't stop in talking back against this sudden punishment that she had been dealt with.

"T-this is so unfair, you've never grounded me before, for anything. I got into a fight once and broke a window with a shovel, and your reaction after being told by the principal was to ask me if I had a future in Construction Work,"

As amusing as that story was to her, it certainly did seem to remind them both, even if it was in the slightest way for either of them, that she was more than just slightly out of control in her behavior recently. Breaking a window with a shovel? She never did stuff like that when she was younger; in fact she was almost the perfect straight student, at least until she was thirteen. Lydia remembered that first time she acted out, and had expected a major reaction from him, yelling at the most, a glare at the least. The teenager also remembered how surprised she had been at the time when she got nothing back from him, nothing at all.

So she tried harder, going further and further to just get something from him that was more than just a blank expression, but she hadn't ever been successful. Now she was close to Juvie, so close she could already feel the cage ready to drop down on her. Certainly she didn't want to go to that place, and Lydia knew that she practically had no one else to blame but herself for where she could be heading, since she could have stopped at any moment, but kept pushing, because she wanted something form him that really shouldn't have been so hard to get and wouldn't be from any other parent.

"There's a first time for everything dearie, unless of course you disagree with any of these rules?"

"Well-"

"You don't particularly need those shifts after all,"

"…Never mind,"

Lydia relented again, deciding that whatever reason he had for being more restrictive was for him to know and for her to find out at a later date, possibly when she wasn't grounded anymore. After caving in to his new rules, after all she adored this shop and nearly every shift she got to have, the overly curly haired teenager walked back to the other side of the shop, looking through the odds and ends that seemed to change with every day that passed. Making sure that she looked with her eyes instead of her hands, remembering how much Mr. Gold hated it when she touched something rare or expensive or both. Eventually though she moved to the back of the shop where she usually worked, cataloging the items that apparently weren't to be sold and placing them away.

"Just off to collect the rent, and don't bother trying to sneak out,"

Mr. Gold called out from across the shop before the teenager heard the familiar tinkling of the small bell door, meaning of course that he had left. Lydia sighed deeply at the work that was ahead of her, since new trinkets and vintage objects seemed to appear nearly every minute when she wasn't expecting it. Tying the large frizzy/curled mass of blonde hair into a ponytail, Lydia started digging through the objects, placing the small breakable ones there, older but tougher objects somewhere else and so on. Eventually though the teenager got to the old weapons that Mr. Gold was every interested in keeping.

There were a few swords, some World War Two guns and army Swiss Knives, the usual things that she cataloged back here. However, there was one object that Lydia was pretty sure she had never seen before in the groups of weapons that had needed cataloging, and certainly there hadn't been anything like it. Lydia held it careful, afraid that despite it being very rusted and a little worryingly green in places that it could still be working at least a little, which would end up seriously hurting her, and the rust could cause an infection to if she wasn't careful with it.

It was a bear trap.

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><p><em>She just hadn't been looking where she was walking; a regular occurrence for her, but of course getting stuck in a bear trap was barely ever the consequences she got for it. It didn't take long after foot met bear trap that she was on the ground feeling was quite possibly the worst pain of her entire life, but then again she hadn't suffered child birth yet so maybe it would come up a close second or at least the worst pain so far. Anyway, there she was, lying in the snow that had completely hidden the bear trap from her gaze as it started turning a rather frightening shade of pink around her leg area, and she certinaly was making quite a bit of noise about it. <em>

_Of course it took some time until someone eventually came across her (and for a long time she was thinking that no one actually would); after all she was walking through a usually and rightfully empty forest that didn't have a road going through it for miles. But as soon as she became aware of who it was that found her writhing painfully in the cold snow and crying out like dying animal, the thief felt as though it would be a much better feeling for both her pride and her humiliation if she just stomped on another bear trap. Especially since he apparently wanted to make a pun of the situation before doing anything else._

"_Well, well that certainly looks… unbearable," _

_The rather pained teenager looked up to see what many people in the land called 'The Dark One', or what the most drunken of the lot would call 'that smiling git you should never make deals with'. But she herself had a more improvised title for this being that was well known for his loopholes and untrustworthy magic, and apparently making very unnecessary puns in the middle of a rather painful situation. That title she had made especially for him (though of course she did use it sometimes on others that she felt deserved it) was that of the __**M**__aster of __**I**__ncorrect __**S**__ale and __**T**__ricks, who __**E**__ntertains __**R**__oyals. Or, as a shorter version to save time-_

"_Mister," She had been thinking of sir, but couldn't find a word for monster that started with S._

_She whispered rather pathetically, her voice a little hoarse from all the crying and screaming of pain she had been doing rather recently. It took a few more swallows of saliva to attempt to continue talking, the strange man creature that had come across her giggling amusedly under his breath somewhat at her expense. The thief tried to ignore that, and instead kept talking; pleading her case for him to help her, (even though she already had doubts about it, since he had a reputation for not really being someone to willingly extended a helping hand, at least not without something in return) since she was starting to feel dizzy, and the snow was getting pinker by the minute. _

"_P-please help me, please…"_

"_You're very lucky I just happened to come across you dearie. There isn't a road for miles," _

_He crouched down near her leg, apparently looking it over before deciding it a good idea to poke it straight out, and the answer to that was an immediate scream of pain and begging for him to help in any way that didn't include continuing to poke her leg. The Dark One, or Mister, got back to his feet and walked around her in a slow and rather intense circle, tapping his chin in apparent thought, all the while the blonde was starting to feel more and more dizzy, she was losing far too much blood far too quickly from her leg. If she passed out now she was certain that he wouldn't help her, and wolves would be the ones to find her next. _

"_In fact, the only thing that is close to this forest, would be my estate," _

_He cocked his head curiously as his hands continued to gesture around, the intention in his voice already clear as he looked back down at her, the thief returning the gaze with pleading eyes. The sting of tears in her the corner of her eyes was best ignored, again just for her pride than anything else. She didn't want to seem so weak already, as it wouldn't do anything to help her at that moment. No, she had to stay strong, for at least as long as she could hold onto her consciousness before finally fainting from so much blood loss. After that brief period of silence he spoke again. _

"_Now, I think we can cut a deal to save your life. But… a deal needs two interested parties…"_

_The Dark One crouched down again, near her head this time as one of his scaly hands stroked at a long blonde curled hair, before leaning closer to whisper in her ear, the small giggling that followed after not unexpected. _

"_So, who are you, and why are you looking for me?"_

* * *

><p>A sudden slam of the shops' front door frightened Lydia into jerking back, accidentally dropping the bear trap, which went off as it hit the ground. The teenager shouted in fear at the sound of the metal crashing together and grabbing her hand in reaction, feeling already the sting of the cut that she had received from dropping it to the floor, and swore many a colorful profanity, even though the teenager knew she ought to be thankful that it didn't do more damage. There was sound of quick movement as the new arrival into the shop moved to the back room to see what all the commotion had been.<p>

"Are you alright?"

Lydia didn't bother to look back for a while to see who the new customer was, as she was instead rather importantly occupied by the pain in her hand, which was actually worse than what she had originally thought, since usually small cuts don't produce that much pain and blood. In fact, in looking it over again it was pretty obvious that the cut went from the tip of her middle finger to the middle of her palm. It was a strange cut, especially when it was accidentally done via dropping an ancient hunting weapon that apparently still worked just fine. It wasn't too deep thankfully, but was still pretty bad.

It was a rather strange wound due to the circumstances in which it happened, but it was somewhat thrown away with the fact that it really, really stung and was still bleeding a bit. But still, there was a customer here and she was supposed to be minding the store while her legal guardian was away scaring the locals/picking up the rent that he was owed for owning the whole town, so she had to shake it off for as long as this person was here and then find the time to deal with it. Lydia shoved her injured hand into her pocket and turned back to finally face the customer, gesturing for them to go back out into the main room as she went back behind the desk.

"Ah… fine, just a scratch nothing more, is there anything I can help you with?"

The customer was someone that the teen had seen around town when she was growing up, a parent of someone who use to be her classmate before she dropped out perhaps, especially since she remembered seeing him during the parent-teacher meetings, scolding at what she remembered to be quite the star footballer of that year. Anyway, the parent looked back at Lydia with what she hoped wasn't a condescending look, but of course her hopes were rather dashed when he decided to speak in the patronizing tone that she already could guess was his normal way of speaking to anyone and everyone.

"I think I'll wait for Mr. Gold to come back, serious business,"

Oh the things she would say if he wasn't a customer, and the customer was supposed to be always right. Her hands held down to the edges of the desk, trying her best not o make it obvious that she wasn't glaring openly at the customer that was currently making it his business to look into every single object that was on the shelves and in the glass cases. Now she was starting to understand the feeling that Mr. Gold would get when she was touching everything in the store, but that was different since she was his kid, and this was just some creepy condescending stranger that was practically just wasting her time because apparently she wasn't serious enough or something.

Finally, after what was nearly an eternity of standing around and feeling nothing but pure agony in her hand, Mr. Gold finally managed to make his reappearance. Lydia made a tactful escape of quickly running to the first aid kit in the back room and bandaging her hand so she could stop leaking blood everywhere in the pocket of her jacket. After finally managing to help her wound and not having to babysit an adult anymore, she quickly got back to her work of cataloging. Quietly though, so she could still hear the conversation going on in the other room between the customer and Mr. Gold.

And she didn't like what she heard.

* * *

><p><strong>Please review, constructive criticism always welcome. <strong>


	2. Chapter 2

_It was probably rude of her to finally pass out thanks to blood loss before answering his questions, but then again she didn't feel as though there was much she could do about that. The Dark One didn't seem to agree with that counter argument though, as she was eventually brought back from her unconsciousness by the sounds of snapping fingers over her face and a rather annoyed voice telling her to wake up. She didn't open her eyes fast enough apparently though, since the next thing she got from him as a welcome back from the unconsciousness was a sudden splash of water to her face. _

_Some of that rather generous splash of water managed to get up her nose and in her ears of course and she was left to sit up and try to cough it all out of her system via body reaction. The rightfully named 'Mister', after finally seeing that she was awake again, had walked off to do something else that she couldn't really see at that moment because her eyes were watering thanks to her forcible coughing and the fact that having water in her nose and ears was very painful. When her nose and eyes were once again clear though, she could see plainly enough that wherever this was, it certainly wasn't the forest anymore. _

"_Now that you are awake dearie, I've held up my side of the bargain, it's time for you to do the same,"_

_This place new place was rather nicely furbished room, polished wooden floors with clean rugs on the floor, certainly a room that must have been part of a very wealthy household. She noticed however, a slight smell of mustiness in the air, and a fine layer of dust. Obviously this was not a wealthy household that was well cared for. The girl was lying on a similarly well furbished bed, again a little neglected due to the slight and almost unnoticeable smell in the pillows. It took a few moments longer than usual to really process what The Dark One had said, which also had to be coupled with remembering what was supposed to be a rather painful injury on her leg._

_But as soon as that did process, the girl pulled back the ragged pant leg , expecting to see a rather gruesome sight of a bloody mess and basic bear trapping injuries, but instead saw spotless (apart from the freckles of course) skin, there wasn't even any scars. She spent a few moments inspecting the skin even closer, hoping that it wasn't just her imagination or something tricking her in some very terrible way. But no, it was completely clear of injury, or any kind of sign that she had even been the victim of a bear trap. She moved it around a little, and felt no pain. _

"_Completely healed…it's almost like-"_

_He cut her off, turning back and gesturing in the rather grand way that he always seemed to do. He seemed almost childlike in his constant glee, smirking and giggling. He was acting as though this was all in good fun in some way. She wondered if he felt this was all a game, something to entertain himself whilst bigger things were in mind. But what could really be bigger and more important than most of the dangerous and interesting dealings he could make, or had been a part of? (Dealings that she had heard mostly from rumors but nevertheless…)_

"_Magic? Dearie if you don't believe in the power I hold, than you seeking me out is rather confusing. No one seeks out old Rumplestiltskin without something of magic in mind," _

_The girl looked back up at him from her woundless leg, sensing that he was doubting her want to seek him out, or at least how seriously she was taking his abilities. Sitting up a little more, she tried not to look as indignant as she felt by his suggestion, but it was a little hard to do that when her mind was still somewhat muddled by the fact that there was a pain she was supposed to feel. The sensation reminded her of the old soldiers of the Ogre battles, sitting around the pubs at night and rubbing at the amputated parts of their bodies, muttering under their breaths that they could still feel it. _

"_I am seeking your help Mister Stiltskin; I was just surprised is all," _

"_Just Rumplestiltskin dearie," He replied, then paused, walking back to the edge of the bed and looking down at her, another strange giggle following after he spoke, "Then tell me, what is it you seek from me?"_

_She bites her lip for a moment, wondering if she had it in her. It was one thing to think of it as an idea, a whole other to actually finally say it aloud and put it into action. But, the thought had fueled her this long, had pushed her to make the choices she had made. It had to be worth it, it was worth it. Her hands were still rubbing slightly at her uninjured leg, the action reminding her again for the power he must have truly have. After all, a wound like that would have made her incapable of walking on it ever again. He had to be able to help her; he had to be powerful enough._

_Otherwise, she had no options left, not that there were any in the first place apart from this. She takes in a small, almost unnoticeable breath and finally manages to pull words out of her thoughts; even if it was only one word from the many she could chose. Thankfully it wasn't one she had to further elaborate upon, a single word that could say so much more that the other words in her mind ever could. The anger, the grief and shame spat out one word only. _

"_Revenge,"_

_Rumpelstiltskin__ seemed unfazed, as if he had seen this sort of reaction in the people that sought him out all the time. But then again it would make some sense that people would find him for revenge, since anger fuels more than just the mind, just like it was doing for her in that moment. Since he was so powerful that he could heal what should be irreparable damage, why shouldn't he be sought out to deal such damage to others? He cocked his head to the side again but looked as though he was barely interested in what she wanted from that point. But her answer certainly got his attention back again. _

"_Hmm, and on whom do you wish harm?" _

_An idea unrealized can be wiped out and unnoticed, a word spoken is heard forever._

"_The Queen,"_

* * *

><p>"It seems we have a deal, and when will the mother of the child come to sign the other half of the contract?"<p>

It had taken a while before the name and face were sampled into Lydia's mind so she remembered who they were, and as soon as she did, it was certainly a bit of an issue with her. The rather condescending football star's parent turned out to the parent of Shaun, who she remembered being the boyfriend of her friend Ashley, who was now pregnant. This meant, because it always took Lydia a moment longer to put these things together, that Ashley was going to give her child away. To Gold, of all people in this town, it had to be Gold that was going to find a 'better' home for the child.

Lydia watched the events transpiring while hiding in the back room, and felt a slight tinge of anger in her chest, the usual that she would get when someone or something annoyed and/or upset her. And this was certainly no different from those occasions; it just didn't really involve her was all. That didn't stop her though; some things barely ever did when she was mad. But of course, like the good little shop girl she was meant to be while on shift, she said nothing and continued on cataloging. When the man left however, as in right as the tinkling of the shop's bell went as the door was closing, was when she finally got the time to strike.

"All due respect, Sir, it's not even his child this can be an official deal," The teenager managed to hiss out as she turned back to her legal guardian, who looked a little to use to her outbursts. He just shrugged his shoulders slightly and moved on; taking the small almost finished document that would go on to mean so much to so many lives if the mother signed it, and walked to the small safe he had hidden behind the painting. Lydia watched him from her side of the room, annoyed that of all the places in the shop, he was almost deliberately deciding to put it in there.

The safe was the only part of the shop that she didn't know like the back of her hand. Lydia grew up in that store, she knew it so well she could say all the names of the porcelain dolls that lined the wall closest to the window in the back room, but she had no clue was what was in that safe. She didn't even know the numbers, and it was quite obvious to her that that was done intentionally by her parent. He was hiding something from her in that safe, she knew just as well as she knew the shop.

"I'm afraid it can be when the mother agrees as well. It isn't my job isn't to be the conscience of other people dearie,"

Gold closes the safe, placing the picture back over it, his voice sounded its usual bored in major tone, but at the same time there was a subtle pretense for her to drop the issue. Since if there was apparently one thing he didn't like having, it was an argument with her. He turns back to her, his ever present cane still in his grip as he tried to end the conversation. But she wasn't going to let it end here, because unlike some of the other dodgy deals that he had made in the past (at least the ones she had been aware of), it never really went to this level.

"No, you just write up the deals that their consciences tear themselves apart for accepting,"

He shakes his slightly bowed head, and she didn't miss the slight smirk on his face. Gold looked almost amused, as if she didn't understand what she was actually saying. This always annoyed her, the thought that he seemed to have that she didn't have the ability to fully grasp situations because of her age. It was just another one of those issues that was unsaid between them, one in a long list of silent arguments hidden in looks and subtle actions. That was probably why there was always so much silence in between them. Whether they were speaking to each other or not, there was always an underlying fight that for whatever reason neither of them brought out to the open.

"Everyone has their own desires Lydia,"

Using her name meant he defiantly wanted her to drop it and move on. But she wasn't going to this time; despite whether or not he was actually getting angry at her now, which this was really the only way to tell. Lydia had seen him furious before (even if it had been a select few times), and despite how much she would prefer not going back to that kind of emotion that he clearly did a great job in holding back in any other case, this was too important to just let drift off like every other slight tiff that managed to make it to the speaking level.

"And when did the lives of innocent children become prices for it?"

She wasn't given an answer, which wasn't unexpected. What was different on this occasion from nearly every other that was in every conversation the two had ever had, was that he was no longer amused, and in fact looked rather displeased, somewhat actually close to anger in fact. At least as far as she could see in the corners of his blank expression, which he wore so often it took some time for her to read anger in it, and she wasn't totally sure of that either. Feeling suddenly uncomfortable at this pause in their rather enlightening debate, Lydia subconsciously, for the sake of doing something other than just standing there and being slightly frightened, held her still injured hand in the other, feeling the rough material of the bandage as she rubbed at it.

However, it was because of this action that the silence was thankfully and mercifully broken. Gold walked around the desk and to her side, quickly taking her hand and unwrapped the rather shoddy job she had done in bandaging the injury. When the cut was freed from the material imprisoning once more, it certainly looked different from when she had been bandaging it, since it looked rather red and more swollen than last time (then again there was blood so she wasn't exactly noticing it at the time if it was like that). Lydia hissed and tried to jerk her hands away in reaction as when his finger gently prodded at it.

There was no talking for a while as she was led to the back of the shop, where a better job of first aid was done by Gold. Lydia meanwhile just sat and watched him, well apart from the times when she hissed slightly at the disinfectant that was dabbed onto the cut but managed to not pull her hand away again. This quiet moment between them wasn't too terrible to bear, if anything it was straight up comfortable to be in, which didn't happen as often as it should. Her hand was soon bandaged back up, properly this time so it wasn't too awkwardly uncomfortable on her skin. Some more time was passed quietly, the two sitting in the back room since there weren't any customers awaiting them or anything.

"You were cataloging the swords and not be careful again weren't you?"

Lydia bit her tongue as her fingers tapped gently on the wooden table's end.

"Not really, it was a bear trap this time," She stood up from her seat, pointing out the somewhat rusted and definitely old iron animal weapon, which was now sitting somewhat alone in the shelves. It was thankfully shut so wasn't really able to do more damage than it had. Gold stood beside her as she walked closer to the animal trap, being careful not to touch it again, since she didn't want to risk it even if it was shut.

"You can go now dearie; your shift is over,"

She didn't bother wasting time to question it, and instead left without saying another word.

* * *

><p>"<em>Hmm, not interested, you can go now," <em>

_Rumpelstiltskin__ replied after mulling it over, and then with a sharp toothed grin and a wave of his hand, the door of the room opened in reaction to his will. The girl however, did not seem to play along in time with this action, as instead she didn't move from her spot on the bed for a time, taking on the expression of looking very confused and somewhat upset in place of doing anything. It wasn't supposed to happen this way, at least she was hoping that she would be heard out more than that and then kicked out on her own. If she didn't do something quick then her chance would be gone forever. _

"_You can't just deny me like that,"_

"_Oh yes I can dearie, and just like this. I'm not interested in revenge on the Queen. Another day perhaps, but not today. Bye-bye," _

_With the last of his words he gestured a shooing motion to her, then turned away and acted as if she were never there. But of course the girl decided that she wasn't going to leave. She couldn't, since exactly where was she going to go where the chances of death weren't completely obvious and immanent. So despite herself and all the rumors she had heard from those that had made dealings with this Dark One in the past and managed to live to tell the tale, the girl stood up to this and continued to plead her case for him to help her, but decided to take a different path to it. _

"_Wait! There was something else I needed from you, and you still don't know my name,"_

_The last of her plea was more an add on so he wouldn't force her out of what was most likely his residence, since she did remember that he was at least a little bit interested in what her name was, for whatever reason that she didn't really care to think too much on. Apparently this plea had done some kind of wonder for her, since whether or not it was the fact he didn't know her name or that she wanted something else from him, she still hadn't been kicked out of the room and residence as a whole. _

"_Go on," _

_She was getting somewhere at least, so she built on that._

"_If I can't have revenge on the Queen, then at least I want back what she took from me,"_

_Rumpelstiltskin__ turned back to face her, as if accepting again that she was and had always been there, which only seemed to motivate her more to the thought that he might just help her. He continued his strange dramatic actions of hand gestures and strange giggling while they continued to talk, almost as if he were trying to give the impression that he still didn't care, but she could tell that he was somewhat interested and at least listening to her now. _

"_What's your name again dearie?"_

_There was another pause of embarrassed silence before she answered back._

"_Goldilocks,"_

"_Hmm," he moves closer again, and flicks one unruly curl of her hair, "cute,"_

_It was a little uncomfortable to have him standing so close to her and touching her hair, the last time he did that not counting since she was rather occupied at the time with a bear trap. All the same, the girl made an effort not to show it, since she was so close to finally getting the help that she wanted, in some way at least. She tried to stand a little straighter, wanting to think that since she was being heard she should look more serious about the matter. The Dark One seemed to notice this little gesture, and so continued on with finding out more on the issue of what it is she wanted. _

"_And what is it you want from the Queen, other than a chance to have revenge of course? Didn't take your heart did she?"_

"_No, something even more precious,"_

_She had being trying not to get emotional, she thought she could tuck in the vein and keep it in. It had been years and she had thought the pain would dull to the anger, but she was wrong. A bite to the lower lip stopped it trembling, but nothing seemed to make her breath coming up short. This physical reaction felt humiliating to her, and she tried to bow her head away so the redness of her eyes couldn't be seen. She wasn't going to cry, or at least she wasn't going to let him see that. Still, this apparently worked in her favor, as she could see in his reply._

"_Well I can certainly see that you feel it more precious to you than your heart. What was it then? A family member, a friend?" She shook her head at his questions, suddenly feeling a little worse about herself, especially since she knew that the thing that was taken from her wasn't a person. It made her feel like she was materialistic, but her pride didn't matter; it was still more precious to her than her heart and getting it back was important, at least on the same level of importance as getting the Queen back for hurting her like she had. _

"_No? You're going a bit far for a bauble dearie, ever tried getting a new one?"Another shake of the head was the reply; the blonde curls bouncing wildly at the movement as her head was still bowed._

"_I already told you it's more important to me than my heart, I can't simply replace it. And even if I could, I don't want to," He circled around as she spoke, like a spider seizing up a fly would be the better description of how it felt. Especially since she was opening up like this, something she barely ever did before, because there never was anyone to open up to in the first place. After two laps around her he finally spoke up again, amusement still in his attitude._

"_And you want me to get it back for you?"_

"_Not exactly," She fiddled with her hands now, feeling a little embarrassed that she didn't think of his question as an option beforehand. But still, she had her own plan in getting the precious item back, and was going to stick to it no matter how many easier paths presented themselves to her. She had to stick to the plan, and then she knew she could get her item back for certain, and possibly also get her chance of revenge at the Queen if the moment presented itself. Another breath seemed to give her courage to keep talking and she stopped fiddling with her hands, looking this strange man (was he a man? She wasn't certain…) in the eyes instead. _

"_I want to steal it back for myself, just so I can know for certain when I hold it in my hands, that I got her back in some way for what she did to me," _

"_So where do I come in to your little plan?" More deep breaths, more courage. Goldilocks tried to keep a mantra in her head to block out any doubts or wants to just run from this, because he was rather terrifying if she was going to be honest with herself. More breaths, more courage, more breaths, more courage. Holding her breath from the uncomfortable fear she was getting at that moment would do nothing to help her get what she wanted from him; she had to at least keep somewhat an appearance of being calm and collected in the situation. _

"_The Dark Palace isn't an easy place to break into; the Queen's chamber's being even more guarded than anywhere else. I can't do this alone, not like I am now," Goldilocks hoped she wasn't being too subtle in her way of talking, and could pick up on what it was she was suggesting. Thankfully it seemed she wouldn't have to worry about that, as he figured it out well enough. That, and Goldilocks was sure she should be thankful that he wasn't able to read thoughts and how she was worried he might not find subtly in words. Offending him would only get her in a bigger situation than she had on her hands already. _

"_Ah, so you want me, to help you be a better thief," Rumpelstiltskin pointed to himself then back to her as he replied, somewhat pleased with himself that he finally knew what it was that she wanted from him. She nodded in reply, not wanting to trust her words anymore since now it was out in the open, he needed to think on what she wanted from him. Any answers needed to be heard, and now it was turn to listen to him, that and wait for the answer. Her palms were sweating, she could feel that from the pressure and the fear that she would be denied once again from what was possibly the only help that was left for her to find in the land._

"_What would I get in return? You don't get something for nothing after all dearie," Here it was, the only real thing, apart from being denied, that she had been worried about. Payment was something that the rumors of the Dark One were mostly based around, specifically the fears of what would happen when someone who made a deal with him would try and turn back on it and deny him payment. That wasn't in her plan whatsoever, what was scaring her was that she had nothing to give him at that moment, and nowhere to go if he denies her once again because of this issue. _

"_Yes, I've heard how your deals are done. I have nothing to give you right now and I know that. But-" _

"_Tut tut dearie, don't worry your little head about it then," Rumpelstiltskin gently patted the top of her head before continuing, "We'll worry about that portion of the deal later, for now I have a proposal to build on this deal," _

_The strange man waved his hand again, two chars and a table appearing where they hadn't been before. He gestured for her to take a seat, which she quietly complied. A contract was lying on the table, the parchment old and the ink long dry. However when she picked it up in her hands, she could clearly see from the writing that it was almost specifically written for this deal. She continued to read it, skipping over most of the paragraphs in search of what it was that he wanted to add to the deal, finding quickly, and reacted to it just as fast, looking back up at the strange scaly man with a raised eyebrow. _

"_You want me to stay here while you're teaching me?" _

"_Well do excuse me if I'm reading into something that's not there dearie, but you don't seem like a girl that has a home to go back to, I saw the mark on your hand after all," Goldilocks pulled her hand off the table and held it against her, looking away from him in shame. The mark he was referring to, a cut from the tip of her middle finger to the center of her palm, was something she had thought she hid from his sight, and hoped that this wouldn't interfere with the deal in some way. Or at least, that if it did, he wouldn't sell her out to what the mark meant. _

"_Don't worry dearie, I won't be revealing your escape to them if that's what you're worried about, but I am curious as to why you would want revenge on the Queen, instead of those that gave you that mark," That would be a good question to someone who didn't really know her past that connected to the mark on her hand. In fact anyone else that had the mark like she did, would wonder as to why she wasn't going out at that moment and doing anything that would hurt those that gave this to her. But those people weren't important to her; they were just ingredients of the continuous pain that was brewed, by __**her**__._

"_I don't care for them as much as I do getting my item back, and hurting the Queen like she hurt me," And that was the end of that part of the conversation, as instead it was apparently now time to sign the contract and accept that the deal was now ready to be finalized and put into action. She bit her lip again as she held the quill in her hand, but not because of fear or upset like before, but because she was suddenly so unsure of herself. It was a momentary issue in her mind as she looked back up at Rumpelstiltskin, and decided that the best way to get rid of that unsure feeling was to double check with him. _

"_So, if I sign this you'll help me be a better thief?"_

"_Of course dearie, so do we have a deal?"_

* * *

><p>"Ashley we need to talk,"<p>

Lydia had decided to spend the time that she would have for the rest of the day before her curfew to go and talk to the mother of the child that she and Gold had argued about beforehand. Perhaps the worst way to decide to start the conversation of climbing into the room via the window (so she wouldn't be caught by the owners of the diner in which the room belonged) shouldn't have been the way the teenager went about it. But still Lydia felt as though she needed to talk to the pregnant teenager about the situation (also she was very lucky that Ashley was her friend and wasn't going to call the police or anything for breaking and entering, even if it was for a good cause).

"You're so lucky I don't have my mace on me right now Lydia, you scared the crap out of me," The pregnant teen sighed before returning to her work, her rather exhausted visitor, who was mostly tired because it had been a while since she climbed through a window, moving to assist her in piling the bed sheets into the washing machine, just to be at least helpful at the same time that she was bugging her friend with questions. It was while Lydia was taking the bed sheets out of Ashley's hands that she noticed exactly how far along she was in her pregnancy.

"Oh wow," She breathed, looking back up to smile at Ashley, who nervously smiled back as she continued "Sorry, it's just… Didn't think it would happen so soon,"

The teenager pushed the last of the table and bed sheets into the washing machine, feeling a little embarrassed by her reaction. Certainly Lydia felt terrible for not being there for her friend during most of her pregnancy as emotional support when her boyfriend left her, at the time thinking that she would only harm instead of help Ashley in any way and that Ruby would do a better job. The blonde teen now hoped to be able to make up for that lack of support she could have given, by trying to give advice in this deal that she was apparently ready to accept. Speaking of, Ashley seemed to be opening the conversation up to that issue.

"Doctors say it could be any day, and… I don't think I'm ready,"

While the washing machine was churning away and they got a small break, Lydia finally decided to answer back to that statement, since it did annoy her more than she liked to admit. Ashley had always been someone who was easily influenced by others, even when she, Lydia and Ruby were kids. It took the other two to stop people from walking all over her while they were at school and even after. Lydia remembered how she had thought that Ashley's boyfriend Shaun would have made her more confident to stand up for herself, especially to her stepmother and stepsisters.

But of course that didn't turn out anything like Lydia thought it would, and now had no respect for him. Sure, she knew that he was being leaned on by his father (Who never made a secret on how much he disliked Ashley for getting pregnant, because of course she did it 'intentionally', so it wasn't that hard to think that Shaun's father had something to do with their sudden breakup right after they found out,). But she had no sympathy for him for walking out on a pregnant girl that was also her friend, even though she knew that his issue was a lot like the one that Ashley had.

"You don't think, or have people been telling you that?"

It might have been in the tone that she used when saying that, but it seemed that Ashley had picked up on what it was that Lydia had actually come to talk about. But then again the curly haired teen didn't make a habit of crawling through the window unless the conversation she was going to have had to be important. Ashley shook her head slightly, her hands gently resting on her stomach as she finally acknowledged the deal that she was about to make with Mr. Gold and apparently Shaun's father. The condescending parent and a man who she wasn't sure knew how to actually parent, and he was meant to be her father.

"You know about the deal,"

"Hard not to when they talk about it rather openly and loudly in Gold's shop. But I'm not here to talk about how I know, I wanted to talk to you about it, and make sure you were sure with your choices,"

"I am, I… they're right, I'm not ready for something like this,"

Lydia bit her lip, wanting to go off on a tangent about how Ashley shouldn't accept the judgment of other people as truth, but held herself back because, she wasn't exactly sure if they were completely wrong. After all, she and Ashley were around the same age (by at least two years difference), and as far as maturity went based on past actions, neither of them were really standing up to the level that someone would trust a small human being with. Then again, Lydia had heard from others on how Ashley was trying to change and better herself, taking night classes and working to support herself, so it was obvious that she was trying, but trying didn't mean that she was totally ready for the experience either and…

Really Lydia just didn't know how to voice her opinion on the matter, especially since the only experience she ever had with children was babysitting, before she started doing stupid reckless behavior and such. So she tried instead to find level ground that wouldn't prove those people right, but at the same time wouldn't give Ashley the inclination that she was completely ready for this, because really no matter how prepared anyone is for these sorts of things they seem to be caught by surprise nevertheless. Lydia turned back to her pregnant friend, trying not to let her eye move down to the life that was being kept alive under her apron, the life that could be completely screwed over either way, and she tried to word it best she could.

"Ashley, you can't let your opinion of this be manipulated by everyone else that are only judging you for the sake of dragging you down. If you accept them as true, you're only going to prove them right. I'm not saying that you're completely ready for this, no one is. But you can't just give up when other people say you should. This deal you've made… I can't tell you it isn't something you shouldn't accept because; I haven't been in your position and I don't know what it feels like,"

Lydia was relieved to see that despite the fact that Ashley was older than her and therefore could ignore her opinion if she wanted because just like the younger teenager had said, she didn't know what it was like to have it happen to her. No, instead of blocking her out, she was listening very earnestly, and looked somewhat relieved when it became obvious to her that Lydia wasn't going to impose judgment like everyone else, and was instead going to give her actual advice. Feeling a little more confident in what she was saying, Lydia continued talking about the one thing that she knew best of this situation, the one thing that she could give actual advice about.

"What I can give you advice though, is when you make a deal with Mr. Gold, he isn't going to rip it up and he most certainly won't forget about it. So before you sign that dotted line and make that decision, just be sure it is what you want, because you can never take it back as soon as you make that decision. Whether you sign that contract or not is not up for me to pose judgment on you for, but I will be judgmental on someone who signs a deal with him without being absolutely sure that that is what they want,"

The youngest of the two smiled somewhat sadly before she continued on, moving from the advice that she knew best, to what Lydia really felt on what other help she had given to her friend's situation, that help being absolutely nothing.

"I'm sorry I haven't been around to help as much as I should have before this point, I don't have an excuse other than the lamest one. That being, I felt like I wouldn't be to good enough of an influence for you, and it certainly wouldn't have helped the people judging you to know that I was being your moral guidance… I'm building on the excuse… sorry, just… I'm really sorry," Lydia finished lamely, looking away with slight embarrassment. Ashley however, wasn't annoyed with her or even angry with her for bringing up the issue of how she had not been there to help her.

"It's alright Lydia, and… Thank you for not judging me, but I'm sure with my choice,"

Lydia looked at her more seriously.

"Are you? Absolutely?"

Before Lydia could get an answer however, the owner of the diner entered into the back room where the two teenagers were talking. The older woman took one look at the situation, gave a glare towards Lydia, and it became almost apparent without her even saying a word that she wanted the seventeen year old to leave. Lydia couldn't exactly blame the owner, whom her friend Ruby fondly referred to as Granny, for not wanting her in the back room, especially since the teen didn't have that much of a reputation in good behavior. It was while she was being marched through the front of the diner back to the front door that she was being informed by Granny that she should have entered through in the first place, that she even attempted to defend herself to the older woman.

"I just wanted to be sure she knew what she was doing Granny, I didn't come here to cause trouble I promi-"

The door was shut in her face before she could even finish her sentence, and the teen was left outside, the other patrons of the diner having forgotten by that point that she was even there. Lydia turned to leave, and bumped right into another person.

"Ah, sorry," She quickly apologized, looking up to see who it was that she had walked into,(hoping that it wasn't Leroy, since she just wasn't in the mood for him today), but was instead surprised to see someone that she had never met before. Storybrooke was a rather isolated town after all, barley any visitors came here, and they left pretty soon after arrival, apparently it something to do with the atmosphere that made them leave sooner than they planned. This woman though, for whatever reason Lydia felt was different. She definitely wasn't a tourist; the teenager could see that from the red jacket and rather serious expression that she seemed to always wear.

"It's alright," This stranger replied, before walking into the diner, and leaving the teenager outside alone again before she finally walked off, any thought about the strange woman disappearing from her mind as she thought more instead on the situation with Ashley, not knowing what else to do than give advice, which she had done. So, she was left to sort of wander around, having nothing to do since her shift for the day was over and she certainly wasn't going home. Not only was there nothing to do there, but Mr. Gold might be there to, and she didn't really feel like talking with him anymore than she had that day.

Eventually Lydia decided to go off into the forest that surrounded the edges of the town, feeling the need to just go off somewhere that no one would see her and bother her with their annoying judgments of Ashley and herself as well. Plus, there wasn't much else to do in the forest than there was anywhere else, but at the same time it was better than just sitting around in town, where she could cause any kind of trouble and get into a 'behavioral incident', no need to go to Juvie at the moment, especially when her friend was in trouble.

So, eventually Lydia was left lying on a random log in the middle of the forest, looking up at the sky as the clouds slowly passed, the hours passing just as gradually according to her cell phone, which was also loosing battery power. Spending these moments alone was usually the only time the teenager felt somewhat peaceful, even if she was also somewhat bored. Sure, human interaction was nice, and mostly also necessary to somewhat get through a day, but there always seemed to be something about people that throw off Lydia's enjoyment of things being just… okay. People had their own thoughts and feelings that got in the way; some say that makes things interesting, but Lydia often found she disagreed with others opinions anyway.

And yet, despite how much she tried to relax as the atmosphere usually did whenever she came here, her mind was always back to Ashley. There was nothing more there that she should have been able to do to help, she had given advice on deals and was thankfully not ignored, so it wasn't as if she could say much else to help Ashley in her situation. After all, it wasn't as if she could try and talk to Gold to not accept the deal, nobody could tell him to do anything, the least of all herself. All Lydia could do now was hope that her advice had left some kind of effect and that whatever decision the teenager made, would be the right one that she wanted to make, and not lead on by everyone else.

Her worried thoughts still didn't stop her from falling into a somewhat relaxed nap (despite the fact that she was on her own and in a forest, lying on a log), that took a little while for her to wake up from. A really long time in fact, since it was obvious that more than just a few hours had passed when consciousness managed to make it back to her after her nap. Lydia sat up from her lying down position, and frowned at the sudden darkness that surrounded her. The sun had defiantly set, but because her phone's battery had finally died she wasn't sure exactly what time it was. Nevertheless, Lydia was sure that it was either past her curfew, or very close to it.

Deciding that that was probably the best time to get up and go home with the hope that she hadn't stayed out over her curfew, Lydia started trying to find her way through the darkness of the forest, which mostly meant not tripping over unforeseeable tree roots or her own feet. It was strange that despite how peaceful the teenager found the forest during the day, being there at night did nothing to make her feel better about her fear of the dark, as childish as it was. So after quite a few trips over roots and such, half of which got her to be acquainted with the ground, Lydia eventually made her way out of the forest and back into the streets of Storybrooke.

After a small portion of walking and trying to remember exactly what part of the town she was in (it was dark after all), Lydia eventually decided to first seek out Mr. Gold's shop, just to make sure if he was there, and not waiting for her at home with the Sheriff as guest. So as soon as she found herself on the mina street of Storybrooke, Lydia slowly but surely crept up to the windows of the store, trying to make sure that she wouldn't be seen by him during her little attempt of espionage. However it was just as she was going to breathe a sigh of relief, since she had seen a figure in there much like her legal guardian, that she suddenly heard signs of a struggle and the figure falling over.

Without really thinking about it, Lydia jumped up and ran into the store, the door being thankfully and yet strangely unlocked. The sight that befell her was certainly not something she was expecting. Mr. Gold was unconscious on the floor, a small cut on his head being evidence that it wasn't without reasonable force that he fell, and standing by the safe, the only part of the shop that Lydia didn't know what was in there, was Ashley. The teenager had o blink a few times to assess what it was that had happened here, before she found words to speak.

"Ashley, what have you done?"

* * *

><p><strong>Please review, constructive criticism always welcome.<strong>


	3. Chapter 3

"_What I have done?"_

_This wasn't the first time that Goldilocks had muttered this to herself since signing The Dark One's deal, a contract that despite how much she knew she needed it towards her ultimate goal, she wanted nothing more than the opportunity it rip it up, whether or not she would actually do it she wasn't truly sure, but the opportunity would be fantastic alone. But of course, that wasn't how it worked with Rumplestiltskin, and that didn't take very long to figure out, especially when it finally became clear to her exactly how she was going to pick up the talents of a professional thief. _

_In fact, at that moment she was busy 'learning' how to pickpocket, in the middle of a town square on her own. This wasn't the first time she had done something like this, since dealing with the Dark One, she had been 'out on the field' pick pocketing, breaking into homes, stopping carriages. Basically stealing blind when the person was least expecting it, and getting out of the situation before they finally put two and two together, realizing what she had done to them while they were in what they thought was a safe place. She remembered the exact reaction she had for Rumplestiltskin when she figured this out._

"_You said you were going to teach me!"_

"_Not exactly dearie, you asked for my help, so I'm giving it. See, I'm not a thief, so there isn't much I can teach you myself. The best teacher after all, is experience," He had tricked her, spun her wants and needs to a point that he could utilize them for himself. After all, she wasn't stealing things for herself, according to the contract she had signed; everything she stole went to Rumplestiltskin. It made her so angry to think that nothing she even took, with all the chances she took, all the danger she went through to procure either what he sent her to get specifically, or just regular money, she couldn't keep one part of it. _

_What she was given instead was a room, in the dungeon of his castle, but it was still a room, and Goldilocks had seen worse. Sleep often evaded her though thanks to anxiety of whether or not everything she was putting herself through was actually worth it, whether or not she would actually get what she wanted from all of this. And even if she did get that precious item back, she was worried that it might not give her the happiness she had convinced herself for years, with everything she had been through over her lifetime, that it would bring her. _

_But she shoved those worried back at every opportunity she had, instead trying to keep her mind n the tasks she had at hand, like at that moment where she was cutting the pockets of peasants that were watching a small puppet show in their town square. She avoided the families though, refusing to allow herself to steal from those that obviously needed the money or any children whatsoever. She preferred that when she was in town squares or breaking into homes, to steal from those that deserved it. The violent drunks, the abusive parents, the cruel nobles and tyrannical royals that chose to be the way they were, and so deserved to be swindled from._

_After collecting quite a few coins from those that certainly looked far to involved in themselves, or the drinks in their hands to notice her, she moved away from the crowded square and into an empty alley way, taking out a small pocket watch from her… pocket. The small clock was given to her by the Dark One in order to have a way to get back to his closed off castle. How he had managed to create something like this, the curly haired girl put it down to magic and decided to otherwise not think about it in case it made her head hurt. _

_How it worked was that all she had to do was push the small button on the top of the pocket watch, and after some smoke and flashes, she would appear in the castle's main room. And after doing exactly that, Goldilocks was transported from her position alone in the dark alleyway, and into that main room. As she wiped some unseen dust from her travelling cloak, the girl didn't need to look up to know that Rumplestiltskin was waiting for her by his spinning wheel, exactly where he was the moment she left, and she had been gone for a time, leading her to the thought that perhaps he didn't move whatsoever between those times._

"_Only coins this time, nothing interesting," She said simply, placing the small bag that meant all of her recent work on his desk. He didn't make a sound to her, instead gesturing with his hand that she could leave back to her small 'room'. She did as he said, and spent the rest of her time until the next mission as she did ever other time, staring at the ceiling of the dungeon room, struggling with her thoughts until she finally exhausted herself to sleep. Every day for the longest time was spent like this, the excitement only coming from the few chases she would give the law enforces of the towns she robbed blind._

_Apparently because of her penchant for letting those of the law chase her for a few hours (mostly for her own enjoyment), and of course those that she stole from, she actually got herself a name. Of course she was the last to find out about it, in fact it was Rumplestiltskin that told her about it when she came back from one of her little quests. Whether he had found it either interesting or actually amusing she wasn't all that sure (he seemed to have the same expression for both of those emotions, plus even when he was angry he still giggled like the mad man she wondered he might be)._

_What was the name that had been chosen after all the crimes of thievery she had done by that point? _

'_The Golden Menace',_

_Despite some of her regrets and her want to maybe rip up the deal she had made, she wasn't going to lie in that she didn't find that name somewhat appealing. _

_If only a little bit._

* * *

><p>"Ashley, what have you done?"<p>

The pregnant teenager guiltily looked to the ground, where Mr. Gold was still passed out and even if slightly, injured. There had been a period of silence after Lydia had asked her question, where obviously Ashley was still trying to think on what she could say in order to make this not look like the break and enter it was. During this little thinking time for Ashley, Lydia had walked across the room, looking down at her legal guardian just to make double sure that he was somewhat okay, before looking back to her friend as she got an answer at last.

"I made a mistake Lydia… After you left the diner, I just felt so stuck and… I signed the contract. Immediately afterwards I just, released I was wrong and I remembered what you said on how he doesn't go back on deals and… I want to change my life, in order to that I have to take charge of it as well," She started getting very defensive by the end of her sentence, her shoulders tightening back into a protective stance, ready to defend herself against Lydia for some reason. The younger teenager put her hands up in response as she spoke, physically and verbally showing her that she didn't mean to 'attack' Ashley in any way.

"Okay, okay. Calm down and talk to me okay," She wasn't talking slowly to offend her friend, more to calm her down like she had stated she needed Ashley to, before she continued talking, "You wanted to change and take charge of your life, I understand that, but I'm pretty sure violently breaking and entering was not the way to go about it. Why couldn't you call me? I would have got you the contract for you,"

"Lydia I tried calling you for a while, but you wouldn't answer," Ah yes, she didn't answer any of her friend's desperate calls for help, because her battery died while she fell asleep in the forest. Lydia inwardly cringed at the prospect of how she failed to help Ashley yet again, right after the teenager had been feeling guilty because she had felt there was nothing else she could do for her friend in need. After the slight cringe passed she picked up on talking again, feeling even more ashamed guilt in her stomach than she really wanted to feel that day.

"Sorry my phone battery… Ashley that still doesn't justify you knocking my dad unconscious," When had she ever called him her dad out loud? Sure she'd used father, legal guardian and even his real name whenever she was talking to someone else or to him alone, but never had she ever used the word dad. Weird.

"It was an accident, I just… What am I going to do," Lydia bit her lip as the older, pregnant teenager started sobbing, her hand lightly touching at her swollen stomach. It was hard enough to see her friend cry, especially when she knew that there was something might have been able to do it. The younger teenager rubbed at her temples and taking a deep sigh, before turning back to Ashley, knowing that this might be the only time that she actually really helped her friend during her problems and it might get her in serious trouble, she was still somewhat happy that it was something instead of nothing.

"I have an idea," Lydia muttered, walking a little closer to her friend, spying the keys to the safe in Ashley's hand and holding her own out to have them back as she continued on with what her plan was, the older of the two listening intently as she described what was going to go down from this point.

"Here's the plan, you're going to give me those keys and then I'm going to turn around and enjoy the merchandise on the wall over there," There was a moment where Ashley didn't understand what she meant by that. But she eventually figured it out when the keys were handed over to Lydia, and the younger teenager turned around and did exactly as she said she would, not turning back around for quite some time after she had spoken. Lydia heard some small noises and the tinkling of the door bell, but eventually there was only silence where Ashley had been. When Lydia finally turned back around, she found she was alone in the room apart from Mr. Gold still being unconscious on the ground.

For a moment Lydia just stood there, a little scared that this might be considered a behavioral incident that could put her away in Juvie, and she wouldn't be surprised if that did happen, and it didn't even take more than a day for that to be an actual issue. After that moment where Lydia's hands were actually shaking, she swallowed it back and took a deep breath, managing to somewhat convince herself that that wasn't going to happen. When her hands stopped shaking, Lydia finally decided to look over her father, not wanting to admit that she was worried for him, but at the same time… worried.

Her hand gently touched at small cut on his temple, feeling the slight bump that was growing from the injury, and wondered on whether or not she should call an ambulance since she shouldn't be making judgments on his injuries. Eventually deciding that since she wasn't really that much of a medical professional, (she didn't even know first aid apart from the Heimlich maneuver) she should probably go and seek help by those that were professionals, and so got up to get the phone on the desk. It was while she had picked up the phone and dialing 911, that she noticed a letter on the floor close to the safe.

"Lydia?" Mr. Gold looked up at her from the floor, his hand touching at the wound on his head before pulling back in pain and lying back down, his eyes closing again. While talking to the 911 operator, the teenager moved the closest she could to the floor, feeling out for what was on the floor without really looking, thinking that it must have been something that Ashley had forgotten, a part of the deal or something that could absolutely incriminate her (just in case Mr. Gold was feeling like getting Ashley in trouble for what she had done with the police).

"Yes, yes thank you," The operator then finished the conversation and Lydia hung up, moving quickly to pick up the letter, not really looking at it as instead she moved next to Mr. Gold, looking down at the man that was meant to be her legal guardian as she waited for an ambulance to show up. There was very few times where Lydia ever saw her farther in a weak moment, since that was something he liked instead to do to others. So since she was now in one of those moments, she wasn't sure exactly how to act about the situation, so she reckoned that in a different circumstance, she should act differently as well.

So, she decided after a few moments of wondering whether it would be right or not, to hold his hand until medical help finally arrived,

What she didn't notice was that he was holding on as well.

* * *

><p><em>It had been a long time into her deal with Rumpelstiltskin, more than two turns of the seasons if she was counting, before something actually changed. First it was in the way they responded to each other, and of course it was because she was wounded. That day that the conversation actually changed Goldilocks returned with a rather large and painful bruise on her face, since that day she had been rather unfortunate in almost being caught by the law, and managed to get away only after being hit by one angered, yet rather eager man of the law to finally be the one that caught her. <em>

_He hadn't noticed anything different until she had placed the pearl necklace of the noble woman he had wanted to steal from for some reason (perhaps she owed him a debt or something), and he, for some reason looked up at her. Goldilocks for one, thought he wouldn't react even if he did see it, since she was sure that she had left early enough for it not to really set in just yet, even though it did sting quite a bit. So really she also ended up being surprised when he stood from his usual seat at the spinning wheel, and gently grabbed her head, turning it up to the light so he could see it better. _

"_What happened?" _

_She had to just stare back at him in silence for a moment as an answer, one eyebrow raised in question as to why he would care that she was injured, especially since he was the one that sent her out there in the first place. Maybe it had something to do with the fact that because it was on her face she couldn't see how bad it actually was, and it was pretty bad, enough to worry Rumpelstiltskin anyway. Eventually it became apparent that he wanted her to answer the question that she had hoped was somewhat rhetorical, though when she thought on it a little more… of course it wasn't._

"_Just…part of the job," Goldilocks mumbled back, and then nearly jumped back in surprise when he held his other hand up, and it was swarmed in a strange purple mist. Taking this much like any other person would, as a bad sign, and tried to move her head or at least her body away from him. He didn't let her move far though and grabbed the back of her head with his hand, the other that was covered in the strange mist moved closer to her face. Goldilocks stared back at him, rather afraid since she thought he was going to hurt her, something he seemed to finally notice and reassured her, even if it was in an unemotional tone._

"_Don't worry, this is just to heal it," He muttered, the purple mist covered hand finally touching the part of her face where the bruise was housed, the girl shoulders jumping up as the feeling of the hand on her face, and that it was very, very cold. The hand on the back of her head moved away when it became apparent that she was not going to move away again, and instead awkwardly sat on her shoulder. It took only a few seconds before the hand was removed again, the slight throbbing pain that had been in her face having dissipated already. _

"_There, not so bad was it?" Again he apparently wanted an answer, so she stuttered out something at the last second, feeling really out of place in this situation._

"_N-no, thank you,"_

_It was strange to see him acting this way, since he wasn't giggling or acting in a way that anyone else would consider very strange. H was almost normal in those few moments, but of course that moment was broken when he suddenly giggled after she thanked him. His hand left her shoulder and he went back to the spinning wheel, the girl standing there for a moment before she decided to leave the room and somewhat go back to the usual rituals of going to her 'room' and staring up at the ceiling and letting herself worry to sleep. Tonight was a little different however, as instead she fell right to sleep before her head even hit the pillow, it was the best sleep she had had in years. _

_When she woke up the next day, the girl did as she would every other day, almost forgetting what had happened the day before as she walked into the main room of the castle, not surprised that he was waiting by his spinning wheel once again. But what did stop her in her place though, was the sight of another being in the room, in the castle apart from herself and Rumpelstiltskin. That person being someone very familiar to her when she saw them, but it still took one second for it to set in. _

_The person that was now joining them was the law officer that had hit her yesterday, who was now tied to a chair not that far from the spinning wheel where Rumpelstiltskin was still spinning quietly to himself, not acknowledging her for a time, that is, even if he was aware that she had entered the room whatsoever. Some more steps closer were needed before more was added into this situation for her to understand, and it became apparent that it couldn't be the same man. _

_Since she was pretty sure that he wasn't made completely out of almost perfectly shined porcelain the last time she saw him. Otherwise the hit wouldn't have hurt as much as it did. _

"_What… is going on here?" _

"_Just having some fun dearie," Rumpelstiltskin seemed to finally see her, looking up at her as she walked closer to the life sized porcelain man, looking at the doll person even closer, amazed somewhat at how good of a likeness it had towards a real person, especially to someone she had only seen the other day. She looked back to the Dark One, who had now stood from his seat by the spinning wheel, moving so he was standing beside her and getting a good look for himself at the porcelain person. But she wasn't blind to not see the slight anger that had crossed his face as he peered closer at the doll man's face. _

_It was good that she had seen that anger, otherwise she would have been confused when he suddenly tipped the chair, letting it and the doll person fall to the floor. This as a result, caused the porcelain to instantly shatter completely apart, shards of the doll's head and body skittering across the floor in all different directions of the room before finally letting everything fall to silence again. _

_Right, her seeing him angry made it make perfect sense…_

_Rumpelstiltskin__ turned to her after he was done looking down at the shattered remains with a strange sense of what she could only call contempt, a broom suddenly turning up in his hands as he handed it to her, his order being very clear and didn't need saying. So with a confused sigh and slight shaking of the head, not sure if she wanted to know what was actually going on here even if he was going to tell her, Goldilocks got to cleaning up the shattered pieces of porcelain from all over the room. She wasn't going to lie, the girl wished that he would just go and get a maid if he so wanted someone else to clean his mess after he had made it._

* * *

><p>The moment the ambulances arrived to help Mr. Gold was of course the moment where he managed to convince everyone that he was alright and that the injury wasn't as serious as perhaps Lydia had made it sound through the phone. The medical professionals, after checking him over, convinced that Mr. Gold was alright, and then after warning Lydia to be sure that if anything else happened with him to call 911 again, left. Lydia looked over at her parent long after the ambulances had left as they were walking home through the darkened streets of Storybrooke, trying not to show any actual worry as she questioned him.<p>

"Are you sure you're okay?"

"Fine dearie, just a little rattled in the head, thanks to your friend Ashley," Lydia groaned in annoyance, wanting to go on to further to defend the pregnant teenager, also wanting to include the fact that this was sort of his fault in a way, since he could have easily turned this deal away despite the price. But of course she didn't get to go into that rant as they stopped at the very beginnings that would lead into Mr. Gold's rather large estate. She wasn't all that surprised when he changed the conversation from that point to something else that would put him on the higher ground.

"Lydia, are you aware that it's well past your curfew time?"

"Well, yes but… I just went into the forest for a while and I lost track of time and my phone's battery died and I just-" She had been rambling for a time, not wanting the older of the two to call the police or something for running away or whatever, not that she was completely sure that he would do something like that. Mr. Gold on the other hand, raised an eyebrow in interest as she talked, and managed to have quite a bit of patience on him before he interrupted her in the middle of her defensive prattling of why she had missed her curfew.

"I thought I took your cell phone?" He then held his hand out, the message clear that she should hand it over, charged or not. The teenager sighed sarcastically and handed the device back over, cursing herself for having forgotten not to mention it in the defense she had been thinking up rather quickly to try and also not mention the fact that she had helped Ashley in escaping with all the documents that she needed. As she had put her hand into her pocket to bring out the phone, her hand brushed against the thin paper of the document that the pregnant teenager had missed, feeling as though it was cutting her like a knife or burning at the skin like a hot poker. Guilt was not what she felt because of it, but more fear that somehow he knew it was in her pocket and would ask after that as well.

"Sorry, old habits," She muttered back as he put the phone into his pocket, after wards opening the front gate as they both walked through, then enjoyed the even longer walk to the house that was past this point. There was no more conversation, the teenager hoping that meant he believed her unhelpful in his apparent quest to go find Ashley and the baby, as he so 'subtly' told her as they walked home from the shop. This was a good thing, since it meant that perhaps he would let Lydia have time to go out when he wasn't looking, and give Ashley the part of the document that she had missed.

"Indeed, well goodnight dearie," Understanding the indication he was giving, Lydia said goodnight back and went up to her room, taking a moment to find the most subtle hiding spot for the document, a place that Mr. Gold wouldn't think to look through right away, and eventually decided on using the usual place that he wouldn't go through for the life of him, her underwear drawer. She smirked despite herself, and then got ready for bed, not exactly looking forward to sleep since she had already rested in the forest (which, by whatever strange reasoning since the bed was pretty soft, it was more comfortable to her to sleep out there, than in the bed), but still she decided that it was the best way to pass the time and better prepare her for the day ahead.

The next day wasn't that different from any other in which she didn't wake up in a jail cell. She got up early, though that didn't really matter since no matter how early she was up and ready for the day, Mr. Gold would be waiting for her, it was almost as if he didn't sleep (though of course she wasn't foolish enough to think that he didn't,). She would then have breakfast and join him in the longish walk back to the shop where she would do her shift either cataloguing or taking over the front desk while he went to threaten the other store owners for not paying their rent and/or just for fun of seeing them freaking out at his sudden arrival.

It wasn't until the afternoon, when she told quite frankly, yet again, by her legal guardian that her shift was over, that she quickly made her way to the diner, remembering this time to go through the front door instead of surprising people from the back. As soon as she entered and locked eyes with Granny, she was pretty certain that she was immediately going to kick the teenager out thanks to the trouble she caused yesterday. The curly haired teenager gave a quick prayer gesture to the older woman, as signaling that her intent was not to cause trouble today, apparently that was enough to convince Granny as she then ignored Lydia for the rest of her time she was there.

Lydia waited until Ruby was free, then quickly gestured for her to come over to her table. The waitress gave her younger friend a raised eyebrow before sitting next to her, knowing almost instantly that the curly haired teenager was on edge, since she was looking all around her before bothering to talk to the red loving friend of her's, her voice hushed as her hand went into her pocket, bringing out a envelope that she seemed very desperate to hide from anyone else's sight, especially anyone that was walking by the windows of the diner. There was a period of silence while Lydia was being suspiciously 'mission impossible-esque' and decided to talk to her about it.

"Any reason you're being weird Lydia, or is this another game?"

When they were younger, Lydia enjoyed playing games in which she was like some big action spy, saying that it was the thrill of the chase with the good guys that she enjoyed most. But… ever since she had started getting in serious trouble with the law, it became obvious that the games were something she took a little too seriously and maybe took too much enjoyment in. And so because of that, and the fact that her Granny hadn't wanted her to be around someone who clearly was 'going down the drain' as the older woman had put it, they really hadn't talked all that much. Lydia looked rather annoyed for a moment that she wasn't being taken seriously, even thought really she couldn't blame Ruby for it.

The younger of the two slid the envelope under the table, handing it to Ruby in a way that no one else could really see, still looking around for anybody who was watching them rather suspiciously. The entire time she was speaking rather quickly yet as softly as she could manage to make it that Ruby could still hear her but no one else could, what she was saying making it very clear to Ruby that this was not a game like any other time; she was really being serious, about a serious matter. The red loving waitress took the envelope and nodded slightly with what Lydia finished with.

"Ruby, Ashley broke into Gold's shop last night. I helped her get away with the documents but she missed one and I found it. Give this to her…and tell her again that I'm sorry for not helping her more,"

A small smile Lydia told her well enough that the letter was going to be delivered and the message along with it. So it was only as Ruby interrupted her when Lydia was going to get out of her seat and quickly leave the diner before Granny could ask why she was interrupting her granddaughter during her working hours, that she was confused as to what else there could be to add to this situation. However, what it was that Ruby told her, certainly shocked her enough to sit back in the seat she had previously so confidently stood from.

"Lydia, this document doesn't have Ashley's or her baby's name on it, only Mr. Gold's… and your's,"

Lydia was silent for a long time as the document was handed back to her, the feeling of a knife or hot poker that she had gotten before now being much more obvious. In that moment it was the most important envelope with a piece of paper inside it in her entire life, the one object that needed her absolute attention as she tried to even wonder if she should open it and read what had been sealed within from her sight and understanding. It was an object that in that moment was interesting her, yet offending her all at the same time.

She wanted to open and read it, yet also she wanted to rip it up without ever seeing what was within.

How could it hurt her so bad, yet indulge her so much as the same time? It couldn't mean what she thought it did, but at the same time what else could it mean? It could give so many answers to too many questions, yet leave mystery behind those confirmations. It became apparent to her then, as she sat alone in that diner booth since Ruby had left her alone, feeling as though her friend needed some time to herself, that this was something she shouldn't have found in the corner of her eye last night, something that had been better left unfound.

But it was too late now to pretend like she hadn't found it, too late to put it back in the safe and pretend like it had never happened whatsoever. In that same breath, she also knew that she couldn't tell Gold she had found this, since he would obviously take this away from her, letting it fall into the silent arguments that they have that barely ever make it back to light. This couldn't be allowed to fall there like other things though, because this was too important to never speak of again between the two of them if he were ever to find out.

No, he couldn't find out, so she had to keep it a secret, continuing to hide it until she figured out exactly what to do with it. Whether that be to rip it up or read what was actually in the envelope. So, after being at least sure of one of the thousand questions that were flying through her brain at that moment, Lydia stood and quickly left. Just like yesterday, after leaving the diner she wasn't sure where to go, but soon decided on going back home, figuring that the easiest way to not get in trouble again for breaking curfew, was to get home earlier than it, maybe even before Mr. Gold.

Of course she was wrong and he was there, almost as if he were expecting her in a way, but then again he was sitting in his chair by the fireplace and reading a book, so maybe not. She wasn't sure what to say for a moment when she came across him again, the first thing she wanted to do was strangely enough ask to him what she had been thinking during her entire long walk back home. The one question that she had previously thought before this day, despite how much Mr. Gold might have not been the best of parents; she would never have to ask.

"_Am I adopted?" _

The teenager didn't say it though, in fact she had to bite her lower lip just to make sure she didn't say it, and instead she said a small hello and before she knew it, was sitting in the chair next to him for a few moments. She wanted to say something, something that could give release to her struggling insides and wants to know answers to so many new questions that were upsetting her, but at the same time not something that would immediately let him know that she had found out something she probably shouldn't have, and was starting to get rather upset inside just thinking about it.

"Penny for your thoughts?" He wasn't being sarcastic, and in fact was actually (if only somewhat) genuine. But already she was getting the feeling that he would have to pay more than just a penny for all the thoughts that were clattering around in her brain and upsetting her. Eventually she managed to grasp control of her tongue again and find something to say. It wasn't the most important question, nor the least significant at the same time, but was the only one that could reach her voice at the time where one was so needed to just… say something.

"What was my mother like?" Her mother had never been discussed between the two of them for a few years, the main consensus being that Lydia's mother had died not that long after her birth and they didn't really bother going to visit her grave because of travel and such, and such. The teenager knew she must have been starting to sound somewhat strange because of her sudden fascination with a topic that she had never really discussed or acknowledged before that point, but at the same time, she wanted to know. Not just because of her curiosity, but also to be somewhat… sure, in a strange way of speaking.

She wanted an answer, because it would at least do something to possibly rid the sudden feeling that she was getting of being abandoned and unwanted …in the dark… alone…

* * *

><p><em>The quiet of that forest's dark and misted night was broken by the general noise of a horse galloping through its only path that cutted right through it. This horse seemed tired, as if it had galloped for some time through the land before the forest, on its back being two individuals, one cloaked, the other being shivering against the warmed other that was at the reins. The uncloaked figure was a small child, around the age of their third year, possibly younger as they clung onto the cloaked adult, eyes squeezed shut in fear of the dark that all children their age, sometimes older have. <em>

_It was while the horse was galloping through the forest that it was suddenly given the moment to rest at last, the cloaked adult quickly getting off the horse before taking the child off as well, and ordering her to sit on a nearby stone. The adult finally dropped the hood of their cloak and revealed who they were underneath, that person being a woman. A woman that, with the color and shape of her eyes and curve of her nose, looked as though she might be the mother of the child that wasn't sitting that far away from her. _

_There was nothing that was really said between the possible mother and child, whom as it became aware at that moment, was sobbing quietly, the too big sleeves of the child's clothes wiping away any beginning tears that had tried to escape the eyes that were staring back up at the possible parent that was looking back at them. The silence was only broken once in that moment, by the maybe mother who walked back at her child, and tucked something into their hands, the words neither being delivered emotionally or coldly, it was just said as if that was all that was needed for this child to understand. _

"_I'm sorry I can't be there to tell you about the world, that you have to learn everything about this unforgivable land alone. But just know always, that I'm doing this for your own good, and that I do love you," _

_After speaking, the mother then took off her cloak and wrapped it around the child's shivering form, the last motherly action she would ever do for her child, before getting back on her horse and riding away. The entire time doing her best to ignore the pleading child to the nest of their ability as she ran after them, crying for her not to be left behind. It didn't take long then because of the mother's refusal to stop, before the horse and its rider disappeared into the mist and darkness of the forest, never to be seen by the crying child ever again. _

_This child stood alone on the road for a small while, looking down at the object that had been shoved into their hands by her mother before she so suddenly left her to face this cruel world alone. The object was, from that moment and for the rest of their life considered, the most precious object, more precious than their heart. Hugging it close to her, she moved off the road and started walking through the forest, frightened as if every shadow held the most terrible of creatures in it, as every child their age would think. Still, the child eventually had to sleep, and did by the trunk of a solitary tree, crying themselves to sleep._

_From this point on in the child's life, they would always feel unwanted… abandoned._

_Alone… in the dark…_

* * *

><p><strong>Please review, constructive criticism always welcome. <strong>


	4. Chapter 4

_As the spinning wheel continues to go round, so the thoughts empty from the Dark One's head. _

_The gold as it spins out from the straw is almost completely ignored by him, if anything he only now pulls it out as a well placed physical reaction after spinning for all these years. He cares nothing for the wealth it brings him by this point, stopping his deals and spinning at this point wouldn't matter since he would be set for the rest of his life in this world with what he had already done and made for himself. _

_But he had no future plans or desires to stay here any longer than he needed to, and yet, like the many of the customers he had served to get where he was at this point, every avenue he turned to, to get what he wanted only ever resulted in dead ends and false hopes. _

_So to clear his mind of the painful thought that he might never reach his goal, he continued to spin, letting the continuous action, the continuous thought that allowed for the creation of the gold, flow him into a thoughtless place that was more peaceful to him than he would ever admit to. _

_It was most likely because of his focus on the spinning of the wheel, the sound of gold miraculously threading out the other side, that Rumplestiltskin missed the sudden reappearance of his pupil/hired thief in the room. But then again, there were other factors that could be allowed into this as well, one of those factors being that the golden haired girl was being very quiet._

_A far departure from what her attitude usually was when managing to steal something and getting away scot free. Usually there would be a smug grin and the sounds of fast paced footsteps as she placed her bounty on the table nearby, sometimes talking about the escape, but most of the time just giggling to herself._

_The Dark One noted that the thrill of the chase was finally leaving its mark in her younger mind; the adrenaline rush of running and getting away nearly every time had become something of an addiction. At least, that was what he had thought. _

_He noted however, when he turned to place the new string of gold into the dish, that this apparently wasn't the case as he had previously thought. The Dark One could see this easily enough as the smaller figure of Goldilocks was standing stock still, her face being so pale that she could have been mistaken for a marble statue. However, she broke this stillness somewhat by the slight shaking of her shoulders as her hands were held out for the both of them to see, therefore making the red stain that covered them entirely, from tip of finger to beginning of wrist. _

_No words were said between them both, Rumplestiltskin wanting to seem as though he cared too much on what happened, though he was curious, and the golden haired thief most likely because she was too busy being shocked into complete pale shaking silence. Instead of any kind of words the girl could possibly say to describe this moment, she looked at him. The Girl's eyes wide and unblinking as she looked to him through the messy curls of her hair, most likely for the fear of what she would see if she ever dared to close them at some point. _

_Well, he found it ridiculous to just stand here looking at each other all night, so the Dark One decided to indulge in his curiosity of what had happened to shake the girl up so badly and decided to break the silence first. _

"_Dearie-"_

_He didn't manage to get past the two syllable one word however, as she finally broke down into sobs, slowly kneeling to the floor as she held her hands away from her, apparently not sure want to do with them as the stench of blood continued to flow from it, a never ceasing reminder of what had apparently happened to make her so upset. _

_Her voice was wobbled through the sobs and tears and was going through the words by five per second, but was still very legible through it all; therefore despite her upset Rumplestiltskin managed to finally find out what it was that was upsetting her so badly._

"_I didn't mean to do it, he just came out of nowhere and I just reacted. Oh god what have I done…" _

_She muttered on like that for a while, not really hearing him trying to talk to her. But then again it wasn't as if the Dark One was talking all that much, instead just standing over the shaking girl, her red hands still being the very first thing on her mind, as her eyes would only allow themselves to tear away from it to look back at the Dark One. _

_The stench of blood that was somewhat like rust filled her nostrils and made her feel as though she were going to gag. But of course she couldn't manage it since she was too busy sobbing pathetically to herself for the gag reflex to work the way it was going to. _

_Not wanting to be in this situation longer than he needed to, the Dark One gestured to her hands as she looked back up to him rather pathetically. _

"_Dearie, look at your hands,"_

_Her expression turned to confused, but there was still that horror at what she must have done in her eyes, but he was not really interested in letting this go on any further and interrupted her before she could start crying again. _

"_But there's-"_

"_Nothing there, your hands are completely clean," The blonde looked back to her hands, figuring that he would be wrong and the blood would still be there, but he was right. Every one of her reactive senses that had told her in the past that there was blood on her hands now came in completely blank as her hands were cleaner than ever. Not a speck of anything, much less blood. _

_Of course unbeknownst to her, and she was most likely never going to know, that the Dark One had interfered on the behalf of the blood being gone from her hands. Not because he was being kind of course, being generous to her was probably on the end of the list of things he wanted to do, if it was even there in the first place. He only did this so the situation would defuse so she would stop interrupting and bothering him while he was trying to get on with his work. _

_Certainly that was the only reasoning to why he did that for her and nothing else in the matter. _

"_I don't…I don't understand…" Rumplestiltskin had to now resist the urge to roll his eyes less the trick be found out and the whole situation would have to start over again, and quickly thought of something that he could use as an excuse or explanation to what had happened. It didn't take very long to think of something of course, gaining not just the powers but also the almost complete immortality of the Dark One had given him a lot of time to become a master at quick wittedness and fast thinking. Much a departure from the man he had once been, who chose more with his truthful heart than with his deceitful mind. _

"_What you killed was no mere man Goldie, more like a siren. A creature that deals in hallucinations against the mind," He knew his lies were working when she looked back to him, confusion of course being in her eyes, but there was also the clearly obvious look of hope for him to keep talking, keep explaining what happened in a way that would stop the emotional pain in her chest. Being a showman, he followed his queue and continued talking, continued spinning the story he was creating for her._

"_In fact there is a barley chance it was even killed and that what you attacked was an apparition," Goldilocks decided to pretend like she knew some of the words he was so expertly using, though she did get the feeling of what they meant, and started to feel so much better about her situation (apart from the fact that she had apparently bawled in front of him so embarrassingly for no reason) and managed to get herself on her feet again, her hands slowly falling to her sides as she stumbled over a reply. _

"_So… I didn't do anything?" _

"_Nothing except spill your endless tears on my once clean floor," Goldilocks wiped away the remainder of the tears that were on her face with her now clean hands before mumbling a quick apology as her cheeks turned a deep shade of crimson and she retreated from the hall and back to the cell she now called her room, trying to think about anything else except how she had actually cried in front of the Dark One, and how much that really bothered her. _

_Rumplestiltskin watched her leave before a thought entered his mind. He knew he was being a little over dramatic when he used the statement 'clean floor' at that time, even the girl knew that. Now that he was thinking about it he should probably invest in a maid of some kind to make sure no more dramatics caused his floors to get any dirtier. And he already got a good feeling that while this blonde might have some impressive expertise in thieving and lying, that she would be completely useless in a kitchen and wouldn't know her way around a mop and bucket for the life of her. _

_He would have to invest in someone else to be his maid._

* * *

><p>Lydia spent her next shift in the pawn shop with her forehead pressed against the cold glass of the back window, growling underneath her breath every so often before falling back into silence as the headache that was now pounding in her mind was not allowing for speech or even too angry a thought. But of course those angered thoughts came about whenever she thought about last night, which was coincidentally around the time that the headache began and never seemed to end, and the conversation that had gone on with the person that was now aggravating her so much.<p>

How Mr. Gold had managed to change what could have been an emotional and actually genuine conversation between the two of them for what would be according to her memory the first time, into a full blown and very heated argument with even a good portion of screaming at one point, though that was mostly from her.

Half of what they had yelled back and forth between each other was barley memorable (as always whenever they argued, which was probably more often than normal father-daughter relationships) and not what was currently angering her and hurting her feelings so badly. In fact, there were two things about the situation that had happened last night from that argument that were actually angering her so badly.

The first thing was that, as previously stated that he had changed what could have been a genuine conversation between them into an argument, which Lydia couldn't completely remember how and didn't completely care why he had done so. The second thing that was upsetting her so badly was that at the end of it, for the first time for a long time she had retreated to her room, and actually cried.

She had thought after all these arguments and all this time that she had become desensitized to all of it, that the crying reaction in all occasions had stopped not long after she had started being a teenager (around the time that the arguments started in the first place). Of course Lydia knew that the combination of the discovery of what could be her adoption papers and the fact that he was currently scheming like he did usually around other people of the town that she didn't know, but was now doing it to one of her friends, trying to take their baby away from them.

Which of course Lydia did not want to allow that to happen, though at this point already the teenager knew there wasn't much left that she could do to really help Ashley in her dilemma. The documents had been taken from the shop, meaning that if Ashley shredded them up now there was very little that Mr. Gold could stand on to prove that the child was planned to be taken into the foster system so there was a chance and…

Gritting her teeth as the headache grew a little bigger at the constant worrying over the Ashley situation, Lydia felt at least some relief in the vibration that was her phone in her pocket telling her that her shift was over. Locking the store up as quickly as she possibly could manage, the teenager stood outside the store for a few seconds, unsure of where it was she wanted to go. Her house? Out of the question as to whom might still be there, waiting for round two of the headache creating argument. Granny's Diner? She wasn't hungry.

Apart from that Lydia couldn't think of anywhere that would want her around, much less a place where she could have something to do. Eventually the teenager just settled on walking around, minding her own business while watching the other people of Storybrooke as they went about their lives, doing their jobs and often taking a few seconds break to glare holes into the back of her skull as she walked past. Of course, Lydia wasn't completely sure if they were doing that, but she knew the feeling when she got it. After all, she had been to High School, even if it was for less of a time than she was supposed to have in there.

The town's street of main shops eventually evolved into suburban areas and the elementary school. It was of course late enough into the afternoon so there was a large stampede of younger children as they ran through the now abandoned playgrounds and classrooms for the cars that were waiting for them by the front gate, smiling and greeting their children with complete happiness. Lydia watched this all go on as she walked past, alone on her side of the street from the school, feeling annoyed by how this was seemingly reminding her on how angry she was.

She never had anyone waiting expectantly for her when her school days were done, never had someone sit down and listen to her talk for nearly hours on end about how great she was in her classes and how she actually made a decent friend that didn't think she was stupid because her hair was blonde. Instead, Lydia walked home after school sometimes quietly but always alone, ignoring the sympathetic looks that over time would turn to annoyed eye rolls or sniffs of derision, all because of whose daughter she was.

If she even was his daughter.

All those father-daughter occasions in the school that she never attended before she even bothered not attending school at all as the strain to do well growing harder to comply with, despite the fact that she wasn't seeing anything in it for her. Well, apart from blank looks of at least recognition before being once again being ignored and shoved back into that lonely corner, with no one to be like 'Dirty Dancer' and say that she didn't belong there. That she was worth so much more to anyone, to everyone if she could just have the chance to prove it.

But life wasn't like 'Dirty Dancer'; life wasn't a story that gave her a happy ending with a dance number to go with it.

What it gave instead were questions with hard answers, mysteries that might never be solved or can, if they just bother to open the envelope with their names printed on them. Even now, her own mystery stayed deep within her jacket pocket, not wanting to leave it alone anywhere where it could be taken from her, the only possible answer she might never get from the questions that were always ignored and shoved in that corner with her. Lydia knew she couldn't let this mysterious answer slip out of her hands and into any that she didn't trust, and that had always included Mr. Gold.

Lydia knew for a fact that she was just making herself upset when she started viscous biting her bottom lip to keep it from wobbling any more. In her mind, enough crying had been done and it was just as useless then as it had been the night before. Sure it expressed her feelings, but already Lydia knew that no one cared about that all that much, not when they were so busy trying to live their own lives, with their own feelings and insecurities. Really there was no need to dump her emotional weight on an already heavy pile of everyone else's baggage.

Eventually the teenager felt her lip stop jittering so emotionally and unattractively as her eyes dried themselves once more. Better, much better. It didn't take her long in this life to know that she had to just keep her head up, always act as thought nothing will bother you, be a sentinel and never tell anyone how it truly feels inside. True, she smiled and laughed like everyone else, but kept what she really thought in her head and true words to herself while speaking the ones she knew others would want to hear.

So Lydia would say she was alright, and would look the part assigned to it.

She was a showman after all, and the show must always go on.

It was fortunate that the teenager had chosen this moment to compose herself completely from the emotional breakdown she was one sob away from being, as just after that moment she heard a voice calling her name. Ignoring it at first as she logically assumed that there were other people around her and younger children at that. Eventually though it had to come back to her attention when she heard clumsy footsteps coming quickly towards her general direction as the voice came closer and closer with every shout until finally Lydia turned to acknowledge this person.

And so the defenses went up again, but this time at least the smile was somewhat genuine as she saw Henry Mills stopping right in front of her, a small smile on his face as well as they were both just pleased to see each other again.

"Hey Hen-"

"Kid you gotta slow down when we're in a crowd-"

Lydia looked up from the ten year old's smiling face to see one that she found somewhat familiar, but then again that didn't mean anything since she could have met her yesterday and already would have forgotten about her. The teenager smiled a little in greeting, not wanting to seem too angry outwardly at meeting this woman and therefore annoying yet another person in this town. Because having one person to not completely find her unbearable was good enough to her. Thankfully the woman was the one to restart the conversation once again after the strange period of silence.

"Hi, I'm Emma Swan,"

The woman held out her hand and the teenager took it, feeling worried for a second that her name would cause Emma to just walk away like so many before her.

"Lydia Gold,"

And sure enough there was silence again as Emma just nodded and took that in, Henry on the other hand seemed as sick with silent pauses in the conversation as Lydia was by this point, and started telling the teenager about his day and what he'd been up to since she last saw him. Emma didn't really talk to her as they continued to walk on, mostly because she didn't get the chance to get a single word in as Henry was talking. At some point of course he had to take a break to breathe at one point and Emma quickly jumped in.

"So, how do you know Henry?"

Lydia decidedly bit back the comeback question of her own of exactly how Emma knew Henry (especially since she was apparently walking the kid home and Regina didn't just let that happen with anybody) and instead went for the more polite route and gave the answer before Henry could do it for her.

"I was his babysitter for a few years, but eventually I had to retire. He was such a piece of work," Lydia grinned sarcastically at the end of her reply, Henry crossing his arms in mock offence before answering back. The teenager really did actually miss her job in supervising the Mills boy, even though it had been a year since she'd been 'fired' by his mother, mostly because she knew that the kid needed someone to stand up for him, at least against his mother's constant pushy attitude on a ten year old.

"Mom said it was because you named your pet dog after her," There was a snigger of laughter from Emma as they continued to walk on, the school suburban area slowly turned into the wealthier parts of town were both Lydia and Henry lived, and at one point had almost been neighbors before one of the parents noticed and for some reason moved a bit further away into the area. Walking through her neighborhood mostly reminded Lydia that most of the people that lived here had made deals with her father to get in this area in the first place, and the teenager would know that since she was there for every deal.

Eventually they seemed to have passed enough of the nearly identical hedge trimmed houses that one of them turned out to be Henry's home. Emma and Lydia said their goodbyes to the kid before he walked back into his home, most likely to be alone for a long time while his mother was out with council meetings or whatever else she did that she covered up by telling him that she was at those meetings. It wasn't long after Henry had gone inside that the situation went awkward again, but this time there was no silence between them.

"So… you're Mr. Gold's daughter?"

"Yep, apologies ahead of time for anything he might've done," It wasn't as if Lydia was immediately suspecting that her father had offended or done something else to Emma, more in the fact that the teenager just liked to make sure that she wasn't going to be held liable for anything he had done. Emma raised an eyebrow, apparently more interested in what Lydia meant than offended, thankfully. The older woman was about to ask a question when Lydia's phone started ringing, the teenager quickly fumbling through her pocket to pull the device out and shut off the ringtone.

"Isn't that from Brother Bear?" Emma asked after the teenager's ringtone, looking somewhat amused as Lydia looked at the caller ID and wondered if shutting the phone again it would be worth the trouble she would go through later for not answering, before she replied to the older woman.

"It's a good movie," Lydia mumbled halfheartedly in her defense as she eventually lost the fight and answered the call, holding the phone up as signal to Emma that she was no longer available for conversation. Her caller didn't stay on the line for very long though, apparently calling Lydia just to give this immediate order and waiting of her confirmation or excuse as to why she would say no, before hanging up.

"That was my dad," The teenager paused for a moment as she acknowledged her use of the D word again before she continued about to take off to do anything but what her father wanted her to do at that moment, "I should get going."

"Wait, before you go, do you know anything about a woman named Ashley-" Lydia cut Emma off, her voice a little more on edge than it probably should be, her defenses were too ready to be raised up completely that it tipped Emma off that something was wrong, and that Lydia knew something.

"Why are you looking for her?" Her answer said more than enough to Emma as she took a small step closer to the younger blonde, her question not being left hanging in the air since Lydia could already see that something had apparently gone wrong in the plans of her pregnant friend.

"She stole important files from your father's shop; Gold hired me to get them back from her with no trouble. Weren't you in the shop when this happened?" knowing that she had shoved herself into a corner now thanks to her defenses Lydia bit her lip, thinking quickly about how to twist this so she could crawl out of that corner again. Thankfully it didn't take very long as she tried to have the outside look of relaxed and confident, but then again Lydia was never good at looking confident so it came off a little strange.

"I didn't see anything that night; I walked in during closing time and saw the safe was empty and my father was unconscious. Has something happened to Ashley?" Of course by the time Lydia asked the last question all her fake confidence dropped and she looked worried for her pregnant friend. Emma bit her lip, not wanting to include another person in Ashley's troubles though it already seemed that Lydia was well enough involved, so Emma cracked and let the younger blonde in on what was going on.

"She's disappeared with those files; I think she's running from Storybrooke to possibly Boston with those files. Do you know where she is right now?" Lydia felt the worry grow from the smallest of seeds in her gut, the thought that her friend was deciding to go on the run during such a sensitive time in her pregnancy scared the crap out of the teenager. It was because of this worry that Lydia spoke without thinking and so because of her muttering broke apart her earlier lie.

"I haven't seen her since last night…"

"So you did see her in the shop when she was there?" The teenager winced, knowing she had been caught red handed thanks to her own free tongue and looked back to Emma with a small smile, deciding that she was not going to flow this conversation any further up the river of secrets and lies that she had been keeping.

How she was going to get out of this however, was something else to think about. Running wouldn't work, she could tell from just looking at Emma that she would easily catch up to the more athletically challenged teenager and probably get her arrested, which was something that Lydia really didn't need since already she knew that one more arrest and she would be out to Juvie before she could blink.

With her options being few Lorrie decided to fall back on lying again, even though she was getting the feeling that anything she said now, Emma wouldn't really believe unless it was the truth. Still, the teenager did her best to lie and be convincing in the meantime. She tried to not keep her face from being to blank or too overly expressive in case that would be the thing that called her out as a liar before she even spoke. Lydia looked Emma in the eye as she lied, but not too much at the same time. Really she was pulling out all the stops to have the masquerade of truth just this once.

"I saw her before I went into the shop at Granny's last night. She told about her deals with my father and how upset she was and I just… gave her advice to do what she felt was right and unfortunately it seemed that she took that the wrong way," Emma had an expression as though she had a similar feeling to what Lydia had said, as if she had done something similar herself. Lydia meanwhile had her fingers crossed behind her back, praying that this lie was going to work, and became relieved when it seemed that Emma had believed her.

She'd escaped the holding cell for the moment, and felt as though she had just scraped by not feeling the cold bars of the holding cell.

"Okay, well I better get going, my dad hates being kept waiting," After a quick goodbye and good luck passed between the two blondes, Lydia started walking to what Emma guessed was the direction of her home. What the older woman didn't know of course was that she was in fact walking completely in the wrong direction. In fact she was getting closer to the forest that edged around the town than her home.

So she spent the rest of her afternoon and near nighttime walking alone through the forest, feeling oddly more at ease there than in her home or the pawn shop. There was something about the scent of the pine trees and small animals that scampered across the ground and on the tree branches that felt so familiar and comforting to her. Lydia was never one to really wonder why this was, and instead just made every opportunity to be there, especially when Mr. Gold wanted to see her.

She was still mad at him, though her headache had mercifully passed on and left her to think to herself. Eventually Lydia found her way to her spot in the forest and once again relaxed on the collapsed tree trunk, looking upwards at the afternoon sky that could seen through the tree tops, the stars beginning to blink into sight as time slowly passed and the day came to an end. Lydia closed her eyes, feeling more relaxed now than she had all day.

Lydia felt so at home here, but she wasn't all that sure why. Her ringtone went off again, the Phil Collins song from one of her favorite movies being allowed to play out as she continued to watch the stars appear in the slowly becoming night sky.

* * *

><p><em>It had been three days since the mother abandoned the child, and the little girl was still crying. She had been walking in her small shoes for some time, holes beginning to appear in the material form all the walking she had done for such a young child. The small girl stayed off the main road and remained into the shadows of the forest trees, the carriages that went speeding past scaring her as the horses seemed so vicious and bigger than her. There was also the fact that every carriage seemed to have someone that would shout so loudly, saying words that she couldn't understand but knew were bad. <em>

_So she stayed away, and stayed in the forest, her stomach eventually rumbling in hunger. _

_Hours passed into the first day that this child would be alone, though eventually a smell came to her desperate nostrils, something that she thought she would never smell again. It was a sweet smell; the scent of sugary food that she couldn't quite remember the name but would later figure out was porridge. This little girl was so desperate, so innocent to all the horrible things of the world that she didn't figure out that this could be dangerous, that the person with the food would not want to help her. _

_Her feet kept moving towards the wonderful scent in such a scary world, finding safety in it and comfort in it. So she walked as fast as she could manage with her little feet covered in little shoes that were getting holes in them already as she tried her best not to trip on roots or sticks that wanted to stop her. Finally the trees and brushes that had been blocking what was the source of such a wonderful smell fell away to show the small girl what was guarding the only food that she knew she could eat. _

_The food was sitting out on a small table, which was a strange occurrence since this was the middle of the forest and there was a table in it with porridge on it for some reason. But then again this was a small child that still didn't know everything about the world, so she still crawled towards the table and looked at the bowls on the table, looking around for who's food this was, before forgetting all about that when her stomach rumbled and made her decisions for her. _

_Remembering her manners the child picked up one of the spoons by the bowls and took a bit of the porridge, tasting it. She frowned slightly, feeling as though this porridge was too cold, so she moved on to the next, which as soon as her tongue even touched the sample of the food on the spoon she flinched and put it back down, too hot. The last bowl was on the other end of the table, so she walked to the other side of the table and tried the last bowl of porridge and tasted it. _

_It was perfect. And before she could remember that this was someone else's food she ate all of it up, the feeling of her belly being full once more made her less scared of her predicament. The child was so busy enjoying what was seriously the best porridge she had ever had in her life that she didn't notice the bushes behind her rustling as something starting to come closer towards her. The child only really noticed that there was something possibly angry behind her, angry since she had ate someone else's food._

_The small child slowly turned around when she felt a breath on her shoulder, her small form completely shuddering in fear. _

_So it didn't help when what she saw behind her was a large brown bear._

_A scream was caught back in her throat as she climbed down from the table and tried to run away, though the bear claw that reached out and grabbed at the back of her ragged dress stopped her right in her tracks and caused her to fall straight on her back on the leaf covered ground. Tears of fear were already coursing down her face as she was made to face the bear again as it stood over her; the child's eyes squeezed shut as she waited for something she was too young to fully understand. _

_Moments passed._

_Instead of whatever it was that she didn't completely understand, the child instead felt another small blast of air on her face. She opened one eye slowly to see that for whatever reason, the bear had started smelled her face. One small hand reached out and touched at the nose with her finger, watching as the bear cocked its head at her before looking over to its left. The child turned her head as well, seeing another bear coming out of the shadows of the bushes and trees, the two bears seemingly silently communicating for a few moments before something else happened. _

_The first bear left her alone as the other seemed to want to investigate her as well. It sniffed once, and then licked her face, seemingly accepting the child as not a threat. The child giggled, then squealed in excited fear as it picked her up from the ground by its mouth holding onto the back of her dress. She was then dropped on one of the bear's back, carrying her off with them as they left this clearing with the table and bowls of porridge. _

_Clinging onto the Bear's surprisingly soft fur the child took this all in stride rather well, not really sparing a thought to how bears could make porridge and a table to put them on when they didn't have hands. She just sort of accepted it for the time being as these bears had accepted her. They walked through the forest until they reached a clearing with a rock cave, the child being taken off the bear's back and nudged into the cave. _

_She walked blindly through the darkness of the cave for a few moments before she found a torch light and walked towards it, finding a large cavern that was occupied by other bears. Feeling fear grow back into her stomach that flushed away any comfort the child had gotten from the perfect porridge before. She was nudged by the bears behind her until she was standing in the center of the large group of bears, left to shiver with fear as so many pairs of eyes watched her for a few moments before something else happened. _

_An older bear, its fur being complete snow white and its eyes a shade of blue, broke through the crowd and walked right up to the child, the little girl covering her eyes in some childish attempt to make this all into a scary dream that for some reason had very good porridge in it. For a few seconds more nothing happened, then suddenly a voice broke through the silence, and the little girl looked up. _

"_Do not be frightened child; we will not hurt you,"_

_Where the bears had been before, now stood a large crowd of people in rags. _

_Where the oldest bear of the group had once stood now had an old woman, her hair being a shock of white and her eyes being piercingly blue. However those eyes that seemed more familiar to becoming shards of cold ice looked down at the child with warmth and compassion, her old wrinkled hand reaching out to cup the small girl's face as gently as possible. All traces of fear finally left the child as she looked up at the nice old woman that apparently could turn into an old bear, just like the other people that were all around her. _

_With all of this now connecting together in her mind, the child looked back up at the old woman, and said only one thing._

"_So that's how you make porridge,"_

_There was a booming laughter from the old woman, the kind of laugh that someone could feel in their stomach even though they weren't the ones laughing. She grinned back at the old woman as she was picked up in her arms as carefully as ever thought possible._

"_What is your name?" The name the child answered with would never be used by her when she would grow older as it mean nothing but regret and mourning to her as she lived her life alone and abandoned by such a cruel world. But at this moment it meant nothing more than her name that she had been given by her mother, who as far as the child knew since she was not yet aware of the cruelty that lied ahead, might come back someday_

"_Merida," The old woman smiled, and looked out to the crowd of people around her, the family that she led and followed her with absolute loyalty. She looked back down to the small child, the look in the child's wild green eyes just melting her old heart._

"_Welcome to our family Merida,"_

* * *

><p>After being called three more times, Lydia eventually answered the phone, expecting her father to be yelling at her from down the phone line for ignoring his calls.<p>

"Yes?"

But what she got instead was a near heart attack as she jumped off the tree log she had been lying down on, her feet carrying her as fast as she could.

Ashley had been found, and was going into labor.

* * *

><p><strong>Please review, constructive criticism always welcome <strong>


	5. Chapter 5

_It had been four days since Merida was abandoned by her mother and apparently adopted by this strange clan of bear people. The child had tried asking questions the night before on how they were capable of doing this, only to get the answer of going to sleep and that everything would be better explained in the morning. So she had listened, falling asleep rather quickly in the cavern that was now her home. _

_The next morning she was the first to wake up, and waited patiently until she could have the thousands of questions in her mind to be answered. It didn't take long until one of the women of the group, one of the two that had found her actually, to wake up and finally explain how they were the way they were. She picked the child up gently in her arms and carried her out into the clearing where the morning sunlight was just beginning to make the trees around them visible. _

"_We are not like everyone else in the world little one, and this world is a dangerous place for people like us. If you told anyone outside of this family about us and what we are, they would not understand. And those that don't understand are naturally afraid, and fear leads to hate, hate leads to danger for us. It is a sad cycle in life, one that many in the past chose to ignore this, but then become a victim of it because of that. It is a cycle that you have to understand, as it is one that rules this world," _

_Merida looked up at the woman holding her in her arms, nodding softly as she was informed of what would later be one the most important lesson she had to learn about this world. Tears gathered in the corner of her eyes as it made her small little heart hurt really badly, but was comforted before the tears could slip out by a hug from the woman before she was sat down on a smooth rock nearby as the explanation continued. _

"_What we are, are called the Beorn, people that have the abilities to turn into bears as you saw. There are not many like us in this world, so we are very few in number. All that become a part of the Beorn stay in a family that is created, and we are all led by the Mother Bear that made us what we are. We are a family and stay together no matter what as the sense of loyalty to our Mother Bear that keeps us connected. We feel each other's pain because of our connection, and so because of that we must keep each other safe and united,"_

_She was still a little too young to fully comprehend what the woman was talking about in its entirety, but did feel somewhat happy that there was a family like this that was so connected, and wanted to really be a part of. Of course later on in life she would better understand what the woman had been talking about and feel something other than happiness at the prospect of it. However at this time the child felt happy to see such a close family and said only one thing after everything had been explained to her._

"_Can I be a Beorn too?" _

_That sense of family, complete loyalty and no chance of being abandoned, Merida wanted that._

_So why was the woman shaking her head?_

* * *

><p>Lydia felt as though her feet were made of lead since they seemed to be slowing her down. The teenager had been running like a wild fire through Storybrooke towards the hospital, ignoring the looks and talk that she got from the townspeople as she sped past, not caring even in the slightest if they looked at her or judged her, she had stopped caring about stuff like that when she was younger. All that was on her mind, the reason her mind was leading her straight towards the hospital, was her friend and her friend's child.<p>

A child that could be taken away any moment after its birth, by Lydia's father.

There was no mistake that the teenager hated her father a bit for doing something like that, even planning it, especially since Ashley had changed her mind and wanted to keep her child. Lydia was always an advocate for a child staying with a mother that loved them, especially since she had grown up without one. She didn't want this child to live the life that she had without her mother, to feel that emptiness in their heart as they watched everyone else be loved by their mothers all around them. And yes, there was a chance that maybe the child would be given to another loving family through the foster system, that there would be a woman there to love that child like a mother should.

But some day that child would find out the truth, that they were adopted, that they were abandoned, and Lydia did not want that to happen for this child, especially since Ashley did not want to abandon them. Lydia knew that there had to be more that she could do, more to help her friend that she had neglected so far in her pregnancy. Her feet tried to move faster, but so far it seemed that this was the speed she could travel at, and it wasn't enough.

She needed to get there before her father did, needed to talk to Ashley, to anyone in a way that could save this child from being taken away from their loving mother.

It was as the teenager was beginning to seriously panic in not getting there in time, that she heard a car horn from behind her, she quickly looked back, seeing a yellow bug car drive up next to her. And while that frightened her at first, she was calmed almost instantly when she saw the driver was Emma, and then panicked again when she saw her passengers.

"Ashley!" The car was quickly stopped as the teenager slipped into the back with the pregnant woman, quickly slamming the door behind her and grabbing Ashley's hand as she was breathing harshly. The car then continued to speed off towards the hospital. Henry was also in the car, looking genuinely freaked out, not that Lydia could blame him since if she was his age she'd be freaked out to. She talked encouragingly to Ashley, assuring that they were nearly at the hospital and that everything was going to be okay, while also assuring Henry whenever he asked that the baby and Ashley were going to be okay.

"They're going to take my baby," Ashley sobbed in between contractions, Emma and Lydia being quick to calm her that that was not going to happen as they finally pulled into the Hospital car park. Lydia helped the pregnant woman out of the car and with Emma's help quickly got her into the Hospital emergency waiting room, quickly singing Ashley in and getting her into a Hospital room and await for her to be ready for the birth.

Emma then took Henry and Lydia back into the waiting room, where the two blondes then had to constantly assure the boy that everything was going to be okay. As soon as Emma had managed to get Henry to watch some of the children's programs that were on the waiting room television that was bolted into the ceiling, she pulled the teenager to the side to talk, the topic of the conversation already known to Lydia before Emma even spoke.

"Did you know that Mr. Gold wanted me to take the child from Ashley?" Okay, the teenager was not excepting that to come first, a raised an eyebrow at it in confusion as she replied back. But then again Lydia figured that she shouldn't have been all that surprised that her father would manipulate Miss Swan like this so that the child would be taken, mostly because Emma didn't seem like someone who would take a child from their mother in full understanding of what was going on.

"You didn't know that?" This seemed to be enough for Emma as she nodded her head then continued back to the conversation that Lydia was expecting.

"How can I change Gold's mind to not take the child from Ashley?" Lydia rubbed at her temples, her mind speeding as she tried to think of something, knowing that at any minute Mr. Gold could walk through those doors and take the child. The teenager had been expecting the question, it was the answer that was troubling her, and she knew her father better than most people, which did tend to happen after living with him her whole life. Watching every horrid deal that he had made with the people of Storybrooke…

"Wait…" The blonde teenager quickly grabbed Emma's hand just as the woman was about to walk off, thinking that Lydia couldn't help her. It was just as she was about to answer that she looked to the front doors of the Hospital, seeing her father's car pulling up. It took seconds for him to exit the car and walk through the doors, Emma gripping her arm back as she quickly talked.

"What, what can I do?"

"Make a deal with him in return; say you'll owe him something for giving up on this deal," Emma gave a look as though this was not a choice that sounded all that appealing, but it sure did sound appealing to Ashley keeping her daughter. After a few seconds Emma nodded and let go of her arm, the blonde teenager quickly rushing off so her father wouldn't now that she was here and had helped him fail on getting this deal. If he found out she wasn't all that sure what he would do, especially since they weren't really getting along at the moment anyway.

Lydia walked quickly to the other side of the waiting room, where she was sort of out of her father and Emma's sight, but could still somewhat see them having their discussion that could make or break Ashley being a mother. It was a frighteningly short conversation, which ended by her father walking out of the Hospital again. As the teenager walked back over to Emma she began to feel a horrid mix of hope and fear creating a pit in her stomach that could either be filled back up or be never ending. Her answers were given to her as she talked to Emma again.

"How did it go?"

"Ashley's going to be a mom," Lydia looked ready to burst into tears of relief, but managed to hold them back as a nurse came towards the two of them and informed them both that Ashley had given birth to a healthy baby girl. It was after the nurse walked away that the tears of relief fell at last with no shame behind it. The two of them were invited back to Ashley's room to see the mother and child. It was a short walk to the room, but to Lydia it felt like an eternity of walking like her feet really were made of lead once more.

Finally the hallways ended and they were back in the room, Ashley smiling sadly at them with her daughter now in her arms. Lydia looked to Emma, who gestured for her to go first to talk to the new mother. The teenager carefully sat in the chair next to Ashley, who looked at her so sadly, as if she was waiting for the younger teenager to tell her that this was the first and last time that she would be holding her daughter. Lydia took a deep breath and answered the silent question.

"Emma made a deal with Mr. Gold, and he's dropped your deal in return," It seemed to take a few seconds in which Ashley didn't fully understand, so Lydia prompted her a little more by continuing to explain with one sentence that was explanation enough, as her reaction was nearly immediate.

"You're keeping your daughter,"

Ashley was next to fall into relieved tears, holding her daughter close to her as she softly kissed the baby's forehead, tears falling gently on the baby's soft skin, which the daughter reacted to by scrunching up her small nose. Lydia grinned at the adorable action, Emma walking over so she was now standing next to the sitting Lydia, looking over at the child they managed to keep with her mother, a small smile spreading across her face also.

"Thank you," Ashley managed to say between relieved tears as her daughter slept on soundlessly, her tone so truthful, so genuinely filled with gratitude to both Lydia and Emma, that it made the teenager feel important and worth it. If this was what it meant to actually help someone in their life to make it better, than Lydia wanted to do this more often, it felt great. Just that sense of warmth that she could best describe as real happiness that started from her heart and flowed out to the tips of her fingers and toes.

"What's the little girl's name?" Emma asked while looking over the child, Ashley smiling up at the both of them as she answered.

"Alexandria," Lydia had never really believed in names sticking perfectly to people, her own name feeling somewhat off to the teenager, but for some reason on this occasion it seemed to fit the child perfectly, and told the mother so, Emma agreeing with her. The two blondes remained with the mother and child for another hour, the both of them getting to hold the small bundle of joy for a few moments before handing her back to Ashley. When the hour was over Lydia heard a knock on the open door behind her, and turned to see one of the last people she was expecting to see today.

Which was interesting since it was Shaun, the father of Alexandria.

Emma had already sensed that the father wanted to be alone with Ashley and his daughter, and had left for the waiting room where Henry was no doubt still watching the television. Lydia watched him from across the room with a glare that could freeze him on the spot. Ashley managed eventually to convince her that everything was fine before the curly haired teenager got up to leave, taking a moment as Shaun and Lydia walked past each other to say one sentence, determined to say nothing more to this man after this point.

"You mess this up, and I will ruin you," The expression on her face and reputation of her father made her comment not a threat, but a promise. One that Shaun quickly nodded in understanding and agreement with as soon as she had uttered it. Sensing that she had made her point, Lydia left the Hospital and walked back home, the sun having set completely by this point so it was only the street lamps and closed shop lights that were accidentally left on to guide her through the streets back home.

The teenager had decided to walk home for a time since she didn't want to bother Emma with taking her home when she already got the feeling that the town's mayor would already be waiting impatiently for her son to come home. Eventually however it came to the teenager's attention that she wasn't really going to be able to walk the rest of the way home when the street lamps and store lights began to run out as the suburban areas started to take hold. Admitting at least one defeat for the day after such a great victory, Lydia pulled out her phone and called back the number that had been intentionally missed by her twice.

"Hey Sir, can you come pick me up, it's getting pretty late to walk on my own," There was a pause of silence from Lydia as her father spoke on the other side of the phone line, the teenager's hand falling subconsciously to the letter in her pocket, the letter that could destroy everything she thought she knew. Eventually after some talking and convincing he agreed to come and pick her up in front of the pawn shop, the teenager sighing with relief as she hung up the phone and walked back to the shop where she would begin waiting, all thoughts of the success that she had helped with today fading with every foot step as one notion remained.

She needed to confront him about this letter, tonight.

* * *

><p><em>It has been five years since her real mother abandoned her, and Merida hasn't had a single thought about her since, instead enjoying her time being with the family that had taken her in not long after she was left behind. Her skin had become tougher in her opinion, thicker to all that would try to hurt her and her family, even though in reality she was around seven to eight years old and probably couldn't hold up much of a fight against anyone else. But, there was the truth in that her skin was tougher, her muscles stronger with all the tree climbing that she did whenever the Mother Bear wasn't looking, since she didn't approve of the action.<em>

_Mother Bear was exactly that to Merida, a mother like she hadn't remembered having before. She worried and fretted, punished Merida when she disobeyed and rewarded her when she was good. The old woman comforted the girl when she was scared and laughed with her when she was happy. All in all the Mother Bear made the child feel as though she belonged most days, but then there would be days where she would watch the others of the family transform into their bear forms, and feel hurt._

_It hurt to think that she still wasn't one with the Beorn like the others, that for whatever reason whenever she brought it up to the Mother Bear or anyone else in the family, there would be nothing but a denial or sometimes even being told that she had to wait until 'she was older'. At first that seemed to be enough for Merida, who was patient like she knew a good girl should be (as Mother Bear had told her) and waited for some time. But after some years of watching everyone else be so connected and happy, it became unbearable to the child, so she brought it up again. _

_The last time Merida had ever talked about it, she was five years old and after thinking about it too much had caused herself to become very upset and jealous to the connection that everyone else had but she apparently couldn't be a part of. Now that she as bringing it up again, for whatever reason, whether it be that it was two years later or that Merida was now a little more mature than she had been when she was five, the Mother Bear for the first time ever heard her out as she pleaded her case to become one of the Beorn. _

_Knowing already that the argument in wanting to just feel like she really belonged in this family was pretty useful, the child also knew she had to pull out all the stops. Merida so badly want to be one of Beorn, to feel the love that the family had for her in her heart as she shared their comforts, their pains and fears. She wanted to protect them like she had been protected by them, to feel that sense of loyalty and for them to know that she was just as loyal. Merida knew and wanted all of this, at seven years old. _

_She wanted all those things, but mostly she wanted to know for certain that she was loved. _

_Mother Bear listened to all of this, heartbreak often flashing through her wrinkled expression when her emotions weren't completely under her control. The thought that this child wanted to make this rather life changing choice so early in her life just to be certain that she was loved by somebody right now made the old woman's heart ache. Eventually the child's reasoning came to an end, leaving Merida to stand quietly and wait for an answer that would either give her want she had always wanted for years, or leave her feeling left behind once again. _

"_Dear child, are you sure that you know how seriously a commitment you would be making if you joined the Beorn?" Merida didn't think for one second after the question was asked by the Bear Mother and nodded her head enthusiastically in reply. The old woman looked down, eyes closed in thought as she started making her decision that would so profoundly affect Merida's life in the future. There were mainly two choices to decide on, what that would make the child feel only more abandoned to the loneliness the old woman already knew she felt. _

_Or, Merida could become one with them and their family at last, and feel the love that they all knew they had for her at last. But, there was more to becoming part of the Beorn than just that never ending sense of love and loyalty for each other, that that was really just the good side of everything. The bad side existed so there could be good, and the old woman now had to wonder if this child was ready to accept and understand that bad side and enjoy the good. _

_The mind was soon made up, and Mother Bear looked back to small girl, seeing how wild her green eyes were through her brown matted hair, a grin of excitement and love spreading across her face as she waited for an answer that the old woman could tell that she so wanted to hear. The silence was palpable as the Mother Bear took the small child's hand, walking her back into the cavern that they all lived in together, ignoring some of the imploring looks that others of the family gave her, (they had always wondered themselves when Merida would be included in the loop of their family, something that Mother Bear seemed to avoid in the a conversation with complete ease)._

_Merida and Mother Bear walked quietly to the center of the cave, some of the family circling around them as they cared, just like the child, to wonder if today was going to be the day, today would be the day that she would know how loved she truly was. Since the child was mostly good at one thing, and that was believing that she wasn't wanted by anyone, that she wasn't loved by anyone. They knew that making Merida one of them, and one with them was the only and best way to convince her that she was wrong. _

_Today might just be that day._

* * *

><p>The drive was quiet, as it had always been before.<p>

Lydia was sensing that Mr. Gold might be annoyed at her, either that or he was hungry; she wasn't that great at reading his features like she was with most people. The teenager was really hoping that it was actually the latter, and that he would just have dinner when they got home instead of picking back up on the argument again, except this time it would be evolved into what happened today, if he knew about it, Though Lydia was pretty damn sure that he knew she was a part of it despite her attempts to hide from him.

Still, she would defend her actions today until the end of that shouting match because she knew she was right in what she did. Her father might want to fight against that thought, that the foster system and adoption was the best way for that child, and if he did she had a weapon of her own to rebut that argument. The letter that was still burning like hot coals in her pocket, screaming to be opened, to be read where the truth was printed underneath.

The headache that had been a product of the last argument started to make a comeback as the car started to pull in their house, and Lydia started to get the idea that she did not want this argument to happen again. Maybe she would pull that secret weapon a lot sooner to defuse the situation, though the teenager was getting the feeling that it would do nothing of the sort and instead just maybe make this worse. Still, Lydia squared herself for a fight, wanting to confront him on this letter as soon as possible.

It wasn't until they walked out of the garage and into the kitchen that anything happened, Lydia sitting down on one of the stool chairs by the bench, remaining eerily silent as her father did the same, remaining silent as he pulled out a cold plate from the fridge that had once been Lydia's dinner and placing it in front of her.

This usually happened when she came home late and he was also there, the emotional manipulation of eating the food that he had apparently made for the both of them, (and by made that obviously meant collaborated the usual of a mix of store bought salads and left over Chinese Take-Away, since neither of them could cook without the food looking toxic and dangerous to the human digestion), which was now cold and always tasted somewhat bitter to the tongue.

What was different about this time was that instead of the usual action walking away to leave her to eat alone and 'think over what she had done', Mr. Gold leaned on the bench by his elbows, looking back at his daughter as though he knew everything that she had done, but Lydia didn't care about that and wasn't going to let the conversation start from there, she needed to be direct.

Lydia's hand pulls out the letter, slamming it harder than she intended on the bench by her dinner, not breaking the apparent staring contest going on between them as she did so. The staring was broken when Lydia took a bite out of the Honey Chicken Breast on her plate, the father meanwhile picking up the letter that she had placed on the bench, her secret weapon that she could hold over him like he held the cold dinners over her. Before he even got a good look at the printing on the envelope, Lydia spoke up.

"I found it on the floor of the shop last night, it must have fell out of the safe when Ashley broke into it," Her heartbeat was going crazy in her chest, even though nothing had even happened yet, and it was because of that that she tried to calm herself down. Time seemed to be going as slow as possible as Mr. Gold looked over the envelope before looking back at her, any sense that he had wanted to start a fight now held back as instead his expression was blank to her.

"Is it true?" The teenager hated how small her voice had become when she asked that question, especially when she felt so small at the same time. She wanted to shout it, to scream if it was real, or if this was all just some messed up dream and that she was still sleeping in the forest, that the last few days were a fiction of her mind. Lydia wanted this to not be true, because otherwise it just didn't make sense to her, nothing that had happened between them would make sense.

His answer was taking forever, even though it might have really been a few seconds. It was possibly slow deliberately, dragging it out like he had whenever she asked for something from him; she remembered her asking for a job at the pawn shop and how he waited several days before getting an answer. Lydia did not want that to happen with this question, since it was agonizing enough to think this might be true, she didn't want to continue being this way for another day. Eventually Lydia's repressed anger and upset at this situation finally snapped in the few seconds that he wasn't answering her.

"Jesus, just tell me if it's true! Why are you doing this to me? I don't understand why…" She wasn't sure when her head ended up in her hands, though she was somewhat relieved since tears were starting to sting at the corners of her eyes , and if it was one thing she didn't want to do right now, it was crying in front of him, especially when he was the cause of the pain. Her strength had been all used up, since she was already exhausted by the emotional roller coaster of the day and fact that she had run half of Storybrooke in an attempt to get to the Hospital.

She just wanted to go to sleep now, but at the same time Lydia wanted her answer, she wanted this seemingly endless thing, even though it began a day ago, to just stop. Of all the things she wanted, another would be for her to stop crying right now since he was still in the room and the one causing her the pain. Lydia wondered if she lifted her head again, if he would be no longer in the room that he felt so awkward to her pain that he just left.

What she wasn't expecting that he would be standing behind her, hand on her shoulder in an almost comforting way, which felt so strange to her. The teenager looked back at her father, biting her lip as the few tears she couldn't manage to hold back escaped from the corners of her eyes, her expression now mixed with confusion and upset. She hated crying, feeling as though it were an ugly process, so it felt worse now that the one person she didn't want seeing it was standing right behind her.

He was being surprisingly kind and gentle now, the hand that was not on her shoulder cupped her cheek, brushing the tears away with his thumb. It certainly was screwing with the teenager's head, since she never remembered him being this… parent-like. Not that Lydia didn't appreciate the action, since it did make her feel much better, at least enough that the tears stopped for that moment. Even though she hated crying, Lydia was starting think that there were apparently upsides to it.

Still, he could be as kind as he wanted right now; the question was still rattling around in her head, so she asks again.

"Is it true?"

Lydia watches his reaction as Mr. Gold takes a slow breath and closes his eyes; her heartbeat goes faster as she beings to feel anxiety building up in chest. This was scaring her so badly, she wanted to run away, but felt trapped in one place by his hand on her shoulder and still on her cheek. Her breath was speeding up with the heartbeat as again she was left to sit and wait. It didn't take too long for an answer this time, though the teenager truly wished it had taken an eternity.

"Yes, it's true,"

* * *

><p>"<em>Merida, being part of the Beorn has its commitments and its downfalls. I understand that most in this clan agree that you should join our family, but I want to make absolutely sure that you understand what this means. It is not too late to change your mind." The child listens intently to Mother Bear as she spoke, her older voice mostly quiet due to being aged from time. <em>

_Her wrinkled eyelids closed over century seeing eyes when the child says that she still wants to be a part of their family. It was not as if the Mother Bear did not want Merida to be a part of this clan, but unlike the others members of this family, she knew that anything could possibly happen, and any of the downfalls that happened when being a part of the Beorn, had every chance of happening. She had been alive long enough to know that for certain. _

_Mother Bear's heart was certain, but her head felt conflicted. Eventually the older woman took a deep breath, opening her eyes once more to see the small child looking back up at her, her eyes wide with expectation and begging. So, with her heart set and her mind decided, the Mother Bear began to explain what the child would be expecting in the life she would have as part of the Beorn._

"_Being a part of the Beorn means that you, will live so differently from those of the outside world. Being able to change into a bear is only one of the many things that can arise. For instance, you will age much slower than any human child or adult, meaning that a decade will pass for you in growth where it would take them a year. You will live essentially forever, barring accidents and if you ever stray near humans." Placing fear in this child's heart was not the Mother Bear's intent, what she wanted was to educate this young child in the life she could be expecting from those that did not understand Beorn. _

"_Because humans do not understand us, they fear and hate us, and if they ever found out that you were a part of the Beorn, they will feel the same way about you. It is a natural order of life that we all live by together as a family, a family that I protect with all the love and loyalty in my body. Do you understand, that if you become a part of this clan, that you cannot make contact with humans?" The child looks frightened now, but still nods in reply, Merida's want to belong and be loved apparently overshadowing any fears she might now have. _

_Mother Bear looks at the child with more appreciation that she had ever expected to feel for a seven year old child. But still there were so many other things that could go wrong in becoming part of the Beorn, all of them now feeling like too much to explain to the child at this moment, since she was still too young to the old woman. At the same time she still wanted to make absolutely sure that the child knew that this was what she wanted. She was backed into a corner, though eventually her decision had to be made._

_And now, her mind was made, no matter how much she might not have liked it._

"_My decision has been finalized; Merida will become one of us," _

_The celebration from the child and others of the clan was expected, but the bad feeling that hid in the back of the old woman's mind just wouldn't disappear no matter how much they cheered._

* * *

><p>As it turns out, Lydia was perfectly capable of fleeing the situation; in fact that was exactly what she did. The teenager retreated all the way to her room, her feet carrying her in where she locked the door behind her and blocked it further with a chair in front of it. Lydia wasn't completely sure why she had bothered with locking and blocking her door; since she knew Mr. Gold well enough that he wouldn't follow after her.<p>

But then again, Lydia thought he was her father and she was clearly wrong about that, so for all she knew he was going to kick the door down any minute. She tried breathing slowly, trying to collect her thoughts instead of just letting them fly off in a tornado of emotions like she usually did, it was that sort of reaction that got her into trouble, which was now something she could no longer afford. She sat on her bed, biting her lip with such force to stop it trembling, but of course that didn't work.

There was no kicking down of the door though of course, but there was a knock. Lydia glared at the door, as if the person on the other side of it could feel the intensity of it, and leave her alone. Of course that didn't happen, as the soft knocking on wood continued on for a few short seconds. All the while, the teenager though was thinking on the pros and cons on climbing out of the window and finally leaving Storybrooke.

Of course that would be a behavioral issue and would land her a one way ticket into Juvie, but Lydia tried to convince herself that that would only happen if she got caught, trying to ignore the feeling in the back of her head saying that she was going to be caught before she even managed to get out of the suburb, let alone Storybrooke as a whole. Ignoring that feeling got her to the window, pulling the glass pane up until there was enough room for her to climb out.

It was only as she was looking down to the ground she would be jumping out to below, that Lydia felt some of her emotional control leave her again, not just sadness this time however, but anger as well. She wanted to turn back and rip that door back open, her voice that was at this point trapped at the back of her throat, wanting to scream the questions that were now in her head at him to a volume so he could understand how much this was tormenting her.

But Lydia decided, possibly at the last second, to not do that, and instead started climbing out of the window and dropping to the bushes nearby that thankfully broke her fall before it could injure her legs in any way. The teenager tried to think that she wasn't running away from her problem, and that she wasn't that cowardly, but she was never that good at convincing herself of a lie, which was possibly what got her in this situation in the first place.

Lydia bit her lip again, then started carefully walking around the grounds of her 'father's' house so as to stay out of sight, hoping that Mr. Gold would just continue to believe that she was still locked up in her room. However, just like she was never very good at tricking herself into believing a lie, she was never very good at convincing him either, so the teenager knew that despite her hopes he was going to find out eventually, it was what Mr. Gold would do afterwards that Lydia was really worried about.

It was also where she was going to go now that Lydia was conflicted about, until she eventually decided, after she had managed to leave the grounds of the house and a few blocks away from it, to walk through her only favorite place in this town, the forests that surrounded it. At least she would be there to safely stay there and not be seen or judged for any tears that might come out while she was there.

At least that was the destination she had in mind until Lydia felt the earth move completely underneath her feet. Knowing what an earthquake was by principal but not by experience, Lydia freaked out and worried that the ground beneath her was going to split apart into huge cracks or something. Thankfully that didn't happen and the slight tremor that it was died down pretty fast. Still, the teenager felt rattled inside as she looked about in confusion.

The hell was that?

* * *

><p><em>Goldilocks had returned once again from one of her many thieving jaunts, this time managing to bring back quite the amount of treasure, the large gold, jewel encrusted crown that was sitting a little crookedly on top of her head being only the beginning of the loot she had managed to grab. A proud grin spread her way across her face as she tried to relax her breathing, having been running very fast before she managed to teleport back to Rumpelstiltskin's abode. <em>

_The Dark One himself tried not to show that he was also happy with how much treasure the gold haired girl had managed to collect on this occasion, as instead of saying anything that might give away how he felt, he gestured for her to place all the loot on the table as per usual. The girl obliged, taking all the gold rings of her fingers and placing the rather large knapsack filled with gold coins onto the table as well. _

_As the girl's hands grasped on the crown to take it off her head, a thought struck across her mind of how good it always felt, to take from those that she felt didn't deserve it. It made her feel powerful, like all this work beforehand finally led to her getting the foothold she didn't even know she had always wanted before this point. She took the crown off her head and held it in her hands, fingers moving across the leaf patterns and encrusted jewels in the metal. _

"_Power feels good doesn't it?" She nearly jumped at the sound of Rumpelstiltskin's voice, The Dark One apparently having changed his mind on remaining silent as he stood from his spinning wheel where he usually worked and walked to the other side of the table, across from the still pondering Goldilocks. The girl nodded slowly in reply, her eyes still planted on the crown in her hands before eventually she looked up to The Dark One, her question somewhat hushed as she was unsure of herself._

"_How do you do it? I mean, I see you hold crowns like this in the past, all that power it represents, yet I can see that you have other things in mind, a different motive that doesn't have anything to really do with power. How are you not led astray with the thought of that power?" Goldilocks was very good at reading people sometimes; at least she liked to think that she was. With The Dark One however, he seemed to be closed inward often, only opening to allow what he was really thinking whenever he must have guessed that she wasn't noticing. _

_But she was always watching, and whenever those moments arrived the thief could see that there was something he was truly wanting, something that obviously meant more to him than any of the crowns or royal jewelry in all the land. And because her curiosity still seemed to burn with no end, the girl was always intrigued as to what it was that meant so much to him, though at the same time she had the inkling that she might never know. Still, it felt like enough to Goldilocks at this moment that her thoughts of his main motive was true, as he confirmed that at least with his answer. _

"_Easy dearie, you don't allow yourself to be led astray. You keep your eye on the ball," He pulled a golden orb from her knapsack, passing it from one hand to the next as he continued to talk, "No matter what goodies might try to lead you away." His hands moved over orb faster until suddenly it turned into a large golden polished surface, which he then held up so she saw her reflection staring back at her as he said his last piece of advice._

"_You remember who you are, and be absolutely sure of what it is you want most," _

_Feeling restored in her beliefs, Goldilocks smiled to her reflection, her voice a little more confident than beforehand, which was mostly because she wasn't looking The Dark One in the eye._

"_Thank you,"_

_The girl moved to leave the room, but stopped when she heard Rumpelstiltskin clear his throat for her attention. She was expecting him to tell her what it was she would be stealing tomorrow, but instead he handed her the polished golden plate, the thief holding the reflective surface as carefully as she could manage as he spoke once again, looking for the first time that she had ever met him, a little awkward in this situation._

"_Here, your complexion is always so unseemly, a mirror might help. Now off to bed dearie, you'll have more to steal tomorrow," Despite his attempt to make this seem like a backhanded gift, Goldilocks was still thankful for him giving this gift to her. Especially since of all the loot she had stolen before this point, she had never been allowed to keep one piece of it, that and this was the very first gift she had ever received from him. The thief gratefully accepted the gift and turned to leave the room._

"_Goodnight Rumpelstiltskin,"_

_The room that she slept and basically spent most of her time in, at least when she wasn't out thieving, was still a dungeon cell. Not that Goldilocks minded all that much, since she had certainly spent her time in worse places. As the thief walked into her room, she noticed that there really wasn't any loose brick or nail to hang the gold reflective surface off of, so instead she placed it so it was leaning against a wall in one corner, so that when she sat in front of it, she could see her face in its reflection. _

_For some time that was exactly what Goldilocks did, sat and looked at her reflection. Her eyes looked back at her for half of that time, the complete determination and confidence that were now placed back into her heart causing the green orbs to shine with a new vigor. Then, only after the thief had taken a moment to look so that The Dark One wasn't standing behind her or something like that, something happened._

_Her eyes, that were once sparkling and energy filled, turned completely black. Any evidence that there had been an iris' in her eyes disappearing into the darkness that her eyes had become. A toothy grin followed after the now black eyes as her hand moved to the space just above her breast, moving the shirt material back to reveal the flesh that covered her heart._

_There was a mark there on the skin, a large scar-like mark in the shape of a bear footprint. _

"_I miss you Mother Bear and I will have my revenge, for you,"_

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><p><strong>Please review, constructive criticism always welcome. <strong>


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